on no account

Idioms  

1. Also, not on any account. Under no circumstances, certainly not, as in On no account should you put a metal utensil in the microwave oven, or Dad said we can't go, not on any account. [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

“The dahlia’s first duty in life is to flaunt and to swagger,” wrote British horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll, “and to carry gorgeous blooms well above its leaves, and on no account to hang its head.”

From Washington Post

Yet how put straight those vagaries of eye And brain that science bids we strive to square With its first rule: on no account give way To qualities like color, shade or hue And grant them space in its high citadel!

From Scientific American

The visit was of course short; and there was so much embarrassment and occupation of mind to shorten it, that Emma would not allow herself entirely to form an opinion of the lady, and on no account to give one, beyond the nothing-meaning terms of being “elegantly dressed, and very pleasing.”

From Literature

“Thank you, thank you—but on no account.—I would rather walk.—And for me to be afraid of walking alone!—I, who may so soon have to guard others!”

From Literature

GCSEs were toughened, "low value" vocational courses were scrapped, and on no account were students to be given an easy ride.

From BBC