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at all costs

Idioms  
  1. Also,. Regardless of the expense or effort involved, by any means. For example, Ann told the doctor to preserve her mother's sight at all costs, or It seems the company plans to develop the product at any cost, or I'm determined to get vacation time at any price. [Mid-1800s]


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.

See Examples For:

And they must be protected at all costs.

From Slate Sep. 16, 2026

Cofnas’s case soon mushroomed into a test of free speech at Cambridge, with academics publicly urging Cambridge to either terminate Cofnas or keep him on at all costs.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 21, 2026

I meet Draper, a billionaire tech investor himself, at Silicon Valley's Draper University, his boot camp for young tech founders, where students pledge to "promote freedom at all costs".

From BBC Jul. 10, 2026

You don’t want to turn into another person who is lobbying your grandmother at all costs.

From MarketWatch Jul. 6, 2026

Maybe she has to be herself at all costs, no matter who is standing in her line of sight.

From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman

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