all but

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

Regents spent about 40 minutes discussing the reports, with all but a few minutes focused on antisemitism.

From Los Angeles Times

It accuses Israeli authorities of blocking “all but a small fraction of the necessary humanitarian aid, water, electricity, and fuel from reaching civilians in need”, as well as carrying out attacks that have damaged and destroyed vital resources like hospitals and bakeries.

From BBC

“Americans want to wake up in a normal country again,” Roberts began, likely euphemistically referring to Project 2025’s plan to all but erase federal protections and anti-discrimination measures based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

From Salon

Momentum grinding to a halt, the absurdities and indignities that unfolded before this point are all but forgotten, lost in a swirl of badly rendered pixels.

From Los Angeles Times

Although America’s CEOs and financiers largely condemned Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021, they all but made peace with his political return this year—tempering their onetime critiques of the candidate and the GOP, hedging their bets in the lead-up to Election Day, forbidding their media apparatuses from endorsing Kamala Harris, and lining up to kiss the ring soon after Trump’s win became clear.

From Slate

Related Words

• approximately
• basically
• essentially
• morally
• nearly
• virtually