above all

American  

[uh-buhv awl] / əˈbʌv ˈɔl /

idiom

1. most important of all; before everything else; chiefly.

   Above all, the little girl wanted a piano.

   He said that, above all else, he was a dad of two young children.

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above all More Idioms  

1. More than anything else, as in A winter hike calls for good equipment, but above all it requires careful planning. This phrase first appears in William Langland's Piers Ploughman (1377), in which the narrator exhorts readers to love the Lord God above all. Also see first and last.

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Etymology

Origin of above all

First recorded in 1350–1400

Example Sentences

Many of the AI country tunes tap into the genre's archetype of the lone cowboy: a rugged, taciturn, plain-spoken man who, above all, refuses to apologize for simply existing.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

I am still praying for you and your family above all else.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2026

But their chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has said his objective is to disarm Hezbollah, and that what was needed now above all was "persistence and patience".

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

The naval gathering was itself a relic of an earlier age, when rival militaries could coexist in the security of a global order that gave priority to stability above all else.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026

He always had to prove himself the smartest, the trickiest, and above all, the most renowned.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia