all the way
∞
1.8
- idiom
:
todo el camino
- How did you find me all the way out here?
- all the way back
- all the way home
- run all the way
All the way down, all the way up mid range.
- All the way down, all the way up mid range.
- It sounds like groups all the way up to SWAT.
- No, she would rather stand all the way to Union Station.
- I mean, this thing is crooked all the way through, you know?
- Still triangle shape all the way out right to the outer corner.
Examples
-
I come all the way out here to see you, and this is the greeting I get?
-
I walked all the way to the address that you gave me.
-
No, she would rather stand all the way to Union Station.
-
And you came all the way here to give it to me?
-
Your father has given me permission to escort you all the way to the altar.
-
From here on, it's downhill all the way.
-
So I don't have to go all the way up to the third floor?
Fiction book (1990) -
I didn't drag this tank all the way down here just to be standing around.
-
She walked with confidence, knowing she would support her friend all the way through the difficult times.
-
He drove all the way to the coast for the weekend, enjoying the scenery along the route.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Totally, in every way
∞
1.0
Completely, with nothing left out
∞
2.2
Completely without leaving anything out
149
3.3
Completely with nothing left
84
3.4
Completely in every way
22
2.1
For the whole time, from the beginning to the end
21
3.2
To do something completely by checking every part
Antonyms
How Complete
Surface Forms
Morphology
all + the + way
The literal sense 'completely/to the end' follows directly from combining 'all' + 'way', so a learner who knows the words can infer a general sense of completion. However, the specific idiomatic reading 'went all the way' = 'had sexual intercourse' is a pragmatic/metaphorical extension that is not explicitly encoded in the constituents and therefore may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without contextual cues.
Etymology
The adverb all the way paints a clear picture: imagine walking the whole path from start to finish without stopping. That's why it now means 'completely' or 'from start to finish'.