Phrase guide

at all costs

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adv

Meaning 1

As an absolute imperative; sparing no effort or expense

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • We have to retain the majority at all costs.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: at any cost, at any risk, at all risks, by any means, no matter what, for any sake, for any sakes

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

regardless of the cost involved

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he wanted to save her life at all cost

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: at any cost, at any expense

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

63 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بِأَيِّ ثَمَنٍ (biʔayyi ṯamanin) — sparing no effort
  • Azerbaijani: nə olar olsun — sparing no effort
  • Azerbaijani: nəyin bahasına olursa-olsun — sparing no effort
  • Breton: kousto pe gousto — sparing no effort
  • Bulgarian: на всяка цена (na vsjaka cena) — sparing no effort
  • Catalan: a tot preu — sparing no effort
  • Catalan: costi el que costi — sparing no effort
  • Chinese Mandarin: 無論如何 /无论如何 (wúlùnrúhé) — sparing no effort
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不惜一切代價 /不惜一切代价 (bùxī yīqiè dàijià) — sparing no effort
  • Czech: za každou cenu — sparing no effort
  • Danish: for enhver pris — sparing no effort
  • Dutch: koste wat kost — sparing no effort
  • Dutch: coûte que coûte — sparing no effort
  • Dutch: tegen elke prijs — sparing no effort
  • Esperanto: ĉiakoste — sparing no effort
  • Finnish: maksoi mitä maksoi — sparing no effort
  • Finnish: hinnalla millä hyvänsä — sparing no effort
  • French: à tout prix — sparing no effort
  • French: coûte que coûte — sparing no effort
  • Georgian: მნიშვნელობა (mnišvneloba) — sparing no effort
  • German: um jeden Preis — sparing no effort
  • German: koste es, was es wolle — sparing no effort
  • German: was es auch koste — sparing no effort
  • Greek: πάση θυσία (pási thysía) — sparing no effort
  • Greek: με κάθε κόστος (me káthe kóstos) — sparing no effort
  • Hungarian: bármi áron — sparing no effort
  • Irish: cóir máireach — sparing no effort
  • Italian: a ogni costo — sparing no effort
  • Italian: ad ogni costo — sparing no effort
  • Italian: a tutti i costi — sparing no effort
  • Japanese: 万難を排して (bannan o hai shite) — sparing no effort
  • Japanese: 何が何でも (nani ga nan demo) — sparing no effort
  • Northern Kurdish: çawa be jî — sparing no effort
  • Northern Kurdish: bi çi awayî be jî — sparing no effort
  • Latvian: par katru cenu — sparing no effort
  • Persian: به هر قیمتی که شده (be har qeymati ke šode) — sparing no effort
  • Persian: به هر قیمتی (be har qeymati) — sparing no effort
  • Polish: za wszelką cenę — sparing no effort
  • Portuguese: custe o que custar — sparing no effort
  • Portuguese: a todo custo — sparing no effort
  • Romanian: cu orice preț — sparing no effort
  • Russian: любо́й цено́й (ljubój cenój) — sparing no effort
  • Russian: во что́ бы то ни ста́ло (vo štó by to ni stálo) — sparing no effort
  • Scottish Gaelic: air a h-uile cor — sparing no effort
  • Serbo-Croatian: под сваку цену — sparing no effort
  • Serbo-Croatian: под сваку цијену — sparing no effort
  • Serbo-Croatian: pod svaku cenu — sparing no effort
  • Serbo-Croatian: pod svaku cijenu — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: a cualquier precio — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: a toda costa — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: cueste lo que cueste — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: costase / costara lo que costase / costara — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: costare lo que costare — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: no importa el costo / coste — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: sin importar el costo / coste — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: a todo trance — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: a rajatabla — sparing no effort
  • Spanish: a ultranza — sparing no effort
  • Swedish: till varje pris — sparing no effort
  • Swedish: kosta vad det kosta vill — sparing no effort
  • Ukrainian: за будь-яку́ ціну́ (za budʹ-jakú cinú) — sparing no effort
  • Ukrainian: за вся́ку ціну́ (za vsjáku cinú) — sparing no effort
  • Vietnamese: bằng mọi giá — sparing no effort