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]

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Example Sentences

Set up perfectly by Breezy Johnson being fastest in the first leg downhill, Shiffrin looked to have a gold medal all but secured before she somehow finished 15th fastest in her slalom run and cost the USA a medal.

From Barron's

A blockade of oil deliveries to Cuba has forced emergency rationing, kneecapping the country's critical tourism and tobacco sectors even as remittances are under threat and income earned from sending doctors abroad has been all but cut off.

From Barron's

Despite a brief resumption, the last official channel for people abroad to send money home to family in Cuba all but disappeared in 2020 when Western Union suspended transfers.

From Barron's

Australia's hopes of reaching the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup are all but over after Sri Lanka's Pathum Nissanka hit a brilliant unbeaten 100 to condemn them to an eight-wicket defeat in Pallekele.

From BBC

All but one reported delays in their office, and 19 of them told us parcels were still taking priority over all letters.

From BBC

Related Words

• about
• approximately
• around
• essentially
• most
• much
• practically
• relatively
• roughly
• virtually