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all-time

all-time

242 4.2
Better, worse, or higher than anything before now
  • adjective
  • /ˈɔl taɪm/
translation icon : histórico
  • -It's my favorite movie of all time.
  • an all-time high
  • an all-time low
  • reach an all-time high

You know who's your all time favorite baseball player?

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Examples

  • It's my favorite TV show of all time.

  • One of the top five NBA scorers of all time, with a total of 29,277 points.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • But it's just gone to an all time high.

  • And let me say this is the greatest film of all time.

  • Today is one of my all time favorite episodes.

  • It's one of the all time greatest things I've ever heard.

  • We've got Dream Phone out, one of my all time favorite games.

  • In 2004, the number reached an all-time high of 9.7 million.

    Academic text (2006)
  • The percentage of obese children in the United States is at an all-time high.

    Academic text (2005)
  • His achievement in the championship is regarded as the greatest all-time sporting performance.

Synonyms

of all time
vsall-time
171 3.2

A phrase people use to say someone or something is the best ever

is used before a noun to mark unsurpassed status up to now
greatest
vsall-time
70 1.0

Better than all others in quality or importance

highlights unsurpassed status up to now rather than general superiority
unmatched
vsall-time
13 4.5

Being better or more impressive than anything else

focuses on being unsurpassed up to now rather than general lack of equals
unrivaled
vsall-time
  • US
9 5.3

Better than any other person or thing

stresses record up to present rather than simply lacking competitors
unsurpassable
vsall-time
1 7.7

So good that no one can do better

refers to highest recorded level up to the present rather than absolute impossibility

Antonyms

683 1.0

Normal and not special or unusual

Surface Forms

all-time positive

Morphology

all-time = all + time (transparent) = all + time

The meaning 'of all time' is directly composed from 'all' + 'time' and clearly indicates extent across the whole of time.

Etymology

All-time is made of two common words: all ('every' or 'whole') and time ('the past up to now'), so it literally means covering 'all' of 'time' up to the present. That's why an all-time record is the highest, best, or worst ever recorded.