definitions

all the

1

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.

2

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.]

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Nearby words

all square, all systems go, all talk (and no action), all that, all that glitters is not gold, all the, all the best, all the better, all the king's men, all the rage, all the same
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Examples from the Web for all the

  • All-the hills, on either hand, as far as we could see, were covered with the remains of buildings.

    The Lands of the Saracen|Bayard Taylor