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Synonyms

all but

Idioms  

  1. Almost, nearly, as in I've all but finished the book. This expression was used by Andrew Marvell in “Thoughts in a Garden”: “Society is all but rude, To this delicious solitude.” [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Rothman all but declared the armistice a failure, urging Vice President J.D.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026

Looking a little bit more closely, you realize that the monument is all but torn in two by the San Andreas fault.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

The stock is up 20% so far in 2026, and remains very popular among analysts with fifty or so contributing recommendations and forecasts to FactSet, and all but one recommending either overweight or buy.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026

Americans hated the laws, all but one of which was repealed under Adams’s successor, Thomas Jefferson, and the whole episode mars the second president’s otherwise splendid reputation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

By the spring of 1944, with the Nazis’ South American spy networks all but crushed, Elizebeth was eager for a new challenge.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.