all the
Idioms-
Even, more so, as in Painting the room white will make it all the lighter , or They liked her all the better for not pretending , or You don't care for dessert? Good, all the more for us . Used to underscore a comparison, this idiom was used by Shakespeare in As You Like It (1:2): “All the better; we shall be the more marketable.” [Late 1500s] For a synonym, see so much the .
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The entire amount of, as in These cousins were all the family he had . In this usage all the is short for all of the . [Ninth century a.d. ]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before the parade starts, I go in search of a snack and find a food stall tucked away from all the crowds.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Amid all the anxiety on Earth, this is cause for applause.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Recently, his hitting needs all the help it can get.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
And all the literature about the American Revolution itself is rife with the passionate cries for liberty and equality, not paeans to “the land.”
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
“Why didn’t all the souls go during the marches?”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
