at all costs
62
3.7
- idiom
:
a toda costa
- Very often individuals within a college shy away and avoid committee work at all costs.
- avoid at all costs
- win at all costs
- defend at all costs
And I say defy those cliches at all costs.
- And I say defy those cliches at all costs.
- Obviously we avoided those pools at all costs.
- Again, I think the artist has to shun identity at all costs.
- And it's just it, it's just this individualism at all costs and no sense of collectivism.
- Negrin is insistent that resistance must continue at all costs.
- So as a doctor, it's not that we prevent death at all costs.
- Like our human body wants to survive and avoid death at all costs, but our spirit needs death.
- No, no, I was really good with like avoiding them at all costs.
- And by the way, people pleasing can also involve avoiding conflict at all costs.
- I've never ever, like I avoid fighting at all costs.
- Even though he is a pain, by God, we've got to protect Tommy Robinson at all costs.
- OK, Now there are bad fats that you should avoid at all costs.
Examples
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You should avoid him at all costs.
-
We must protect this cat at all costs.
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You must be prepared to stop it, at all costs.
-
We need it back at all costs.
-
And you avoid it at all costs.
-
I must stop them at all costs.
-
In Chinese culture, I felt I had to protect my family at all costs.
-
In everyday life, we try at all costs to avoid problems.
Academic text (2000) -
Then we're going to protect those people and those products and those principles at all costs and profit becomes a by product.
-
We must save the environment at all costs.
Synonyms
94
3.2
A phrase that says something will happen despite problems
23
4.1
Willing to do anything to get something, even if it is dangerous or expensive
5
6.3
No matter what happens
5
7.0
To do whatever is needed to reach a goal, even if the actions are difficult or harmful
Do something even if it costs a lot
How Important
62
3.7
11
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'no matter what the expense or risk' is directly derivable from the parts: 'at' (prepositional frame) + 'all' (any/every) + 'costs' (expenses/sacrifices), yielding 'regardless of any cost(s)'. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically (e.g., Spanish 'a toda costa', French 'à tout prix'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would very likely understand the phrase.
Etymology
The phrase at all costs comes from the image of someone ready to pay any price, with costs meaning money or what they must give up. So doing something at all costs means doing it 'no matter what' or 'whatever it takes'.