all but

Definitions

1. 1

   Very nearly

   Very nearly; everything short of. Most often precedes a verb or adjective.

   • The food is all but finished.
   • A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. [...] Now the Jedi are all but extinct.
   • I practice nightly, I try to keep ahead / This art of surfacing is all but dead
2. 2

   Everything except. Typically precedes a noun or noun phrase.

   • All but three of the students skipped school the day of the parade.
   • In the event, higher sale proceeds were achieved by allowing EWS Railway to acquire all but Freightliner, which was sold as a management buy-out.

The neighborhood

• synonymalmost
• synonymnearly
• synonymnigh on
• neighborall but dissertation
• neighborall but thesis