Word.ws English Dictionary

not leave a stone unturned

not leave a stone unturned is the alternative form of leave no stone unturned.

Meaning of leave no stone unturned

Verb

leave no stone unturned (third-person singular simple present leaves no stone unturned, present participle leaving no stone unturned, simple past and past participle left no stone unturned)

  1. (idiomatic) To search or investigate thoroughly.
    • “This case of police torture and murder is shocking. But this is not the first case and it is unlikely to be the last case until and unless the police conduct serious interrogations and investigations and leave no stones unturned,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.2021 August 25, Tassanee Vejpongsa, “Video sparks arrest of Thai police in drug suspect's death”, in The Washington Post, retrieved 26 Aug 2021
  2. (figuratively) To perform a task carefully and thoroughly, not missing any step.
    • [He] left unturned no stone / To make my guilt appear, and hide his own.1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

Questions about not leave a stone unturned

What is not leave a stone unturned the alternative form of?
Not leave a stone unturned is the alternative form of leave no stone unturned.

Words near not leave a stone unturned in the dictionary

  1. not know whether to shit or go blind
  2. not know whether to spit or go blind
  3. not know which way to jump
  4. not know which way to turn
  5. not least
  6. not leave a stone unturned
  7. not leave one's thoughts
  8. not likely
  9. not long
  10. not long for
  11. not long for the world

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not leave a stone unturned (page history and authors); leave no stone unturned (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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