after all

adverb

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Definition of after all

1 : in spite of considerations or expectations to the contrary : nevertheless

decided to take the train after all

didn't rain after all

2 : in view of all circumstances

literature which is after all only a special department of reading
—W. W. Watt

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Recent Examples of after all from the Web

The case, after all, has the potential to make a big dent in the windfall that state lawmakers anticipated by legalizing casinos in the first place.

— jon chesto, BostonGlobe.com, "Gaming Commission drags Wynn Resorts into legal dispute with former Everett property owners," 12 July 2018
Across the River and Into the Trees, the book that Hemingway worked on and that was ultimately released during these years, is, after all, a literary chronicle of the infatuation itself.

— dana snitzky, Longreads, "Hemingway’s Last Girl," 12 July 2018
Emphasizing those, while also working to push down the cost of batteries, could help put EVs on an equal footing with internal combustion engine cars, which after all, was the point of the credit in the first place.

— jack stewart, WIRED, "The Terrible Timing of Tesla's Expiring $7,500 Tax Credit," 12 July 2018
Pearle is, after all, both her middle name and a homonym of purl, a type of knitting stitch.

— liana satenstein, Vogue, "Pearle Knits Is the Instagrammable Label Redefining the Tube Top," 9 July 2018
And yet after all these years, one key style detail has been vastly overlooked: Prince Charles' pinky ring.

— kayla keegan, Good Housekeeping, "Why Prince Charles Always Wears a Ring on His Pinky," 5 July 2018
This is, after all, a 23-year-old who just last month was fined more than $15,000 for simulating a lewd act during a match.

— howard fendrich, The Seattle Times, "Kyrgios tells it like it is after 42-ace Wimbledon victory," 3 July 2018
Oumuamua appears to be a comet after all—but with some unusual features.

— matt warren, Science | AAAS, "Mysterious interstellar visitor is a comet, flight path reveals," 27 June 2018
And, after all that time in America, the local guys aren’t to her taste.

— joseph o’neill, The New Yorker, "The First World," 21 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'after all.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of after all

1590

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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