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

"She craved acceptance, admiration, kindness, and - perhaps above all - love," writes Charles Spencer about Diana.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

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

But bottom-line results above all else still drive players’ pay.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The source of that confidence was a sustained programme of advertising the new science through public lectures and books conducted by the disciples of Newton, above all by Desaguliers.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton