the way of all flesh
1
9.2
- idiom
- Literature
:
el camino de toda carne
- The story explored the theme of the way of all flesh, illustrating how all creatures are subject to death.
- go the way of all flesh
Examples
-
The way of all flesh.
-
I could have gone the way of all flesh.
Academic text (2006) -
The way of all flesh.
Fiction book (1994) -
After all, after death, breasts and family jewels go the way of all flesh.
Fiction book (1992) -
With 2.0, guild marks are going the way of all flesh and will be simply converted into money, meaning that any hope of their coming back into use at some point also vanishes.
Blog text (2) -
It is presented as glorification; but in reality, it is perfectly human, perfectly natural: the way of all flesh: I am with you always, until the end of time.
Blog text (4) -
Every living thing must face the way of all flesh eventually, as mortality is a part of life.
-
He often reflects on the way of all flesh when considering his own mortality at an old age.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
The end of a living thing's life
13
5.9
The end of something, often hope or belief
A certain fact that every living person must die
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally reads as 'the path of all flesh,' so a learner who knows 'way,' 'all' and 'flesh' can plausibly infer it refers to what happens to all bodies—i.e. mortality. However, this is a literary/biblical idiom whose specific conventional meaning 'death' is somewhat archaic and not fully predictable without prior exposure, making it only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The way of all flesh may come from the Bible, where life is pictured as a way or road everyone walks and flesh means the body. That image of everyone walking the same road to the end is why the phrase now means 'the fact that everyone dies'.