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

See Examples For:

above all

On her own, however, Hargitay was above all a woman having a good time, never less than likable and game and enthusiastic, managing the scripted patter as well as anyone might have.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

The promise of this is, above all, productivity.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

He needed to challenge Barcelona, to win La Liga and, above all, deliver the club's 10th European Cup.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Hit by US tariffs, patchy demand for electric cars and above all fierce competition in and from China, Europe's largest carmaker is in trouble.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

This narrowing, which was above all a stripping away of identity, began weeks before she had even heard of Sister Drummond.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan