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above all

[ uh-buhv-awl ]
/ əˈbʌv ˈɔl /
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idiom
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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Origin of above all

First recorded in 1350–1400
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use above all in a sentence

  • It gives you such a high-up-above-all-your-earthly-ills feeling!

    Mary Ware in Texas|Annie F. Johnston

Other Idioms and Phrases with above all

above all

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.

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