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all too

all too

162 4.7
More than is wanted or expected
  • idiom
translation icon : demasiado
  • And although my experiences are unique, my struggle is all too common.
  • all too often
  • all too well
  • all too familiar

Hidden in Plain Sight describes all too well the secrets that I write about.

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Examples

  • I remember it all too well.

  • It's all too common out there.

  • Then it would be all too easy.

  • Again, it's all too easy to take that fact for granted.

  • But now he's going to focus on another key aspect of action that we all too often forget about.

  • I turned to look at them, just once, then continued to watch the all-too-familiar sights outside the window.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • But the social benefits of the liberal arts are all too often hidden and difficult to articulate.

    Academic text (1999)
  • You know, as we, as we've seen in America all too recently, our infrastructure is crumbling.

  • He left us all too soon, alas.

  • I remember it all too well.

Synonyms

too
vsall too
1.0

More than is needed or wanted

is more emphatic, showing a regrettably large or excessive degree
overly
vsall too
189 3.5

To a degree that is too much or not wanted

is more emphatic, showing stronger excess or regret
excessively
vsall too
32 3.0

To a degree that is more than needed or acceptable

is similar but adds a sense of regrettable intensity
unduly
vsall too
21 6.9

More than is reasonable or necessary

focuses on strong excess without the judgment about justification
inordinately
vsall too
  • Formal
7 7.5

To a much greater degree than is normal

is more common and emotional rather than merely unusually large

Antonyms

22 3.7

A very small amount that is almost not noticeable

In a way that is not enough to meet a need or standard

How Excessive

extremely
1.0
all too
162 4.7
quite
1.0
rather
1.0
somewhat
816 2.0
a little
1.0

Surface Forms

all too positive
alltoo positive

Morphology

all + too

The meaning 'to a much greater degree than is desirable; very/excessively' is directly derivable from combining 'all' (completely/entirely) with 'too' (excessively) — together they form an intensifier. This compositional intensifier pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The adverb all too may come from a simple picture: all meaning 'completely' and too meaning 'more than needed'. So all too keeps that image and makes something 'very' or 'more than is good'.