if/when all else fails
idiom
: if/when everything else one has attempted has failed
He only bothers to read the directions if/when all else fails.
Examples of if/when all else fails in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And if all else fails, there’s always the option to simply take the device away.
—
Darleene Powells, Oc Register, 27 July 2025
Always ready, when all else fails, to play the old hits such as the familiar blame-the-media ploy.
—Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
And hey, if all else fails, just give it to Durant, right?
—Kelly Iko, New York Times, 24 July 2025
Perhaps that’s why Hook’s japes hold a kernel of wisdom; the knowledge that when all else fails, finding the fun in absurd chaos (say, on a quiet London street) is an apt response to a chaotic world.
—Daniel Seifert, JSTOR Daily, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for if/when all else fails
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Darleene Powells, Oc Register, 27 July 2025
Always ready, when all else fails, to play the old hits such as the familiar blame-the-media ploy.
—Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
And hey, if all else fails, just give it to Durant, right?
—Kelly Iko, New York Times, 24 July 2025
Perhaps that’s why Hook’s japes hold a kernel of wisdom; the knowledge that when all else fails, finding the fun in absurd chaos (say, on a quiet London street) is an apt response to a chaotic world.
—Daniel Seifert, JSTOR Daily, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for if/when all else fails
Cite this Entry
“If/when all else fails.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/if%2Fwhen%20all%20else%20fails. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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