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

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

And I think that, above all, is the most important thing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

I scream, but I can barely hear my own voice above all the noise.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed