"be-all and end-all" meaning in English

See be-all and end-all in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-be-all and end-all.ogg Forms: be-alls and end-alls [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|be-alls and end-alls}} be-all and end-all (plural be-alls and end-alls)
  1. (idiomatic) Something considered to be of the utmost importance; something essential or ultimate. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: be-all end-all, end-all be-all, end-all and be-all Related terms: end in itself, raison d'être Translations (Something considered to be of the utmost importance): ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος (arkhḕ kaì télos) (Ancient Greek), první a poslední (Czech), kaikki kaikessa (Finnish), raison d’être [feminine] (French), A und O [neuter] (German), Wichtigste [neuter] (German), Daseinsgrund [masculine] (German), Maß aller Dinge [neuter] (German), das ist auch nicht alles [negative] (German), razão de ser [feminine] (Portuguese)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "type": "example"
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          "text": "Profit is the be-all and end-all of business.",
          "type": "example"
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          "ref": "a. 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 1, scene 7, lines 4–5:",
          "text": "That but this blow / Might be the be-all and the end-all!",
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          "ref": "2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:",
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          "importance",
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          "essential",
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          "ultimate",
          "ultimate"
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        "(idiomatic) Something considered to be of the utmost importance; something essential or ultimate."
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          "word": "be-all end-all"
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          "word": "end-all be-all"
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          "word": "end-all and be-all"
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          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
          "word": "první a poslední"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
          "word": "kaikki kaikessa"
        },
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
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        },
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          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
          "tags": [
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          ],
          "word": "Wichtigste"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
          "tags": [
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          ],
          "word": "Daseinsgrund"
        },
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
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          ],
          "word": "Maß aller Dinge"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
          "tags": [
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          ],
          "word": "das ist auch nicht alles"
        },
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          "code": "grc",
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          "roman": "arkhḕ kaì télos",
          "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
          "word": "ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος"
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      "word": "be-all end-all"
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      "word": "end-all be-all"
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      "word": "end-all and be-all"
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    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "word": "první a poslední"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "word": "kaikki kaikessa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "raison d’être"
    },
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "A und O"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Wichtigste"
    },
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Daseinsgrund"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Maß aller Dinge"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "negative"
      ],
      "word": "das ist auch nicht alles"
    },
    {
      "code": "grc",
      "lang": "Ancient Greek",
      "roman": "arkhḕ kaì télos",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "word": "ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "Something considered to be of the utmost importance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "razão de ser"
    }
  ],
  "word": "be-all and end-all"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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