be-all

Definitions

The whole; all that is to be.

poetic

Examples

“That but this blow⟳ / Might be the be-all and the end-all!”

“Bowen also spoke of […] teaching her daughter to rely⟳ not just on a mother, but on a community. "No one person should try⟳ to be the be-all to another person. We must surround⟳ our children with people they can count⟳ on."”

“[…] to be happy with their lot in life, content with things as they are, things that may once have⟳ been be-alls and absolute end-alls but that lost their intoxication after five years, put⟳ them on automatic pilot after ten and became a prison after fifteen.”

CEFR level