Meanings
- idiomaticAnyway, in any case; indicates a statement is true regardless of other considerations; used to reinforce or explain a point.
After all, they never come home for Christmas.
4 more examples
Of course he won't give you credit. After all, his first and last concern is his company's profit margin.
“What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all.—I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished societies.”
1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 53After all, it is undeniable that the B.R. standard coach scored highly in comparative trials with other European railway vehicles on the Continent a few years ago, so that B.R. civil engineers must share responsibility for any defects in its behaviour over here.
1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The riding of B.R. coaches”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 705–706I’d prefer to keep things straightforward and stick in the lovely, tasty yolks, too. After all, there’s no such thing as too rich when it comes to brownies.
2020 January 8, Felicity Cloake, “How to make the perfect gluten-free chocolate brownies – recipe”, in The Guardian - idiomaticIn the end, however; used in referring to something that was believed to be the case, but is not; or to an outcome that is not what was expected or predicted.
They won't be coming home for Christmas after all.
2 more examples
Then the idea returned to her that, after all, her son might not be innocent in the Ellen matter—and this was so interesting that she felt bound to get as near the truth as she could.
1873–1884 (date written), Samuel Butler, chapter XL, in R[ichard] A[lexander] Streatfeild, editor, The Way of All Flesh, London: Grant Richards, published 1903, →OCLC, page 175From Moscow has come the admission that, yes, after all, the Soviet Union occupied these nations by force in 1940, against the will of the people.
1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 604 - Introduces information that supports the preceding statement.
Of course he's coming to the party. After all, he did promise.
Synonyms & antonyms
Translations
Arabic فِي النِّهَايَة
- فِي النِّهَايَة (fī n-nihāya)anyway, in any case
Catalan al capdavall, després de tot
- al capdavallanyway, in any case
- després de totin the end, however
Chinese Mandarin 畢竟 /毕竟, 究竟
- 畢竟 /毕竟 (bìjìng)anyway, in any case
- 究竟 (jiūjìng)anyway, in any case
Dutch per slot van rekening, uiteindelijk
- per slot van rekeninganyway, in any case
- uiteindelijkanyway, in any case
- immersanyway, in any case
Esperanto post ĉiom, finfine
- post ĉiomanyway, in any case
- finfineanyway, in any case
- jaintroduces information that supports the previous sentence
Finnish loppujen lopuksi, kuitenkin
- loppujen lopuksianyway, in any case
- kuitenkinanyway, in any case
- sittenkäänin the end, however
French après tout, finalement
- après toutanyway, in any case
- finalementanyway, in any case
- après toutin the end, however
- pour finirin the end, however
- au bout du comptein the end, however
German immerhin, schließlich
- immerhinanyway, in any case
- schließlichanyway, in any case
- allerdingsanyway, in any case
Greek πάντως, τέλος πάντων
- πάντως (pántos)anyway, in any case
- τέλος πάντων (télos pánton)anyway, in any case
- στο κάτω κάτω (sto káto káto)anyway, in any case
Hebrew סוף סוף
- סוף סוף (sof sof)anyway, in any case
Hindi आख़िर
- आख़िर (āxir)anyway, in any case
Hungarian elvégre, végül is
- elvégreanyway, in any case
- végül isanyway, in any case
- végtére isanyway, in any case
Irish i ndeireadh na dála
- i ndeireadh na dálain the end, however
Italian dopo tutto, dopotutto
- dopo tuttoanyway, in any case
- dopotuttoanyway, in any case
- in fin dei contianyway, in any case
- alla fineanyway, in any case
- nonostante tuttoanyway, in any case
- alla finein the end, however
Japanese やはり, やっぱり
- やはり (yahari)anyway, in any case
- やっぱり (yappari)anyway, in any case
- 結局 (kekkyoku)anyway, in any case
- 所詮 (shosen)anyway, in any case
Korean 결국에는
- 결국에는 (gyeolgugeneun)anyway, in any case
Latin denum, denique
- denumanyway, in any case
- deniqueanyway, in any case
- tandemanyway, in any case
Latvian galu galā
- galu galāanyway, in any case
Māori te mea ai
- te mea aianyway, in any case
Polish w końcu, przecież
- w końcuanyway, in any case
- przecieżanyway, in any case
- wszakanyway, in any case
- wszakżeanyway, in any case
- jednakin the end, however
Portuguese afinal, afinal de contas
- afinalanyway, in any case
- afinal de contasin the end, however
Romanian în definitiv, la o adică
- în definitivanyway, in any case
- la o adicăanyway, in any case
- la urma urmeianyway, in any case
- până la urmăanyway, in any case
- până la urmăin the end, however
Russian ведь, в конце́ концо́в
- ведь (vedʹ)anyway, in any case
- в конце́ концо́в (v koncé koncóv)anyway, in any case
Spanish después de todo, al final
- después de todoanyway, in any case
- al finalanyway, in any case
- al fin y al caboanyway, in any case
- después de todoin the end, however
Swedish när allt kommer omkring, trots allt
- när allt kommer omkringanyway, in any case
- trots alltanyway, in any case
- ändåin the end, however
- trots alltin the end, however
Tagalog pagkatapos ng lahat, tutal
- pagkatapos ng lahatanyway, in any case
- tutalanyway, in any case
Urdu آخر
- آخر (āxir)anyway, in any case
Welsh wedi'r cwbl, wedi'r cyfan
- wedi'r cwblanyway, in any case
- wedi'r cyfananyway, in any case
Yiddish נאָך אַלץ
- נאָך אַלץ (nokh alts)anyway, in any case
Cite this entry
after all. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/after%20all
“after all.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/after%20all. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “after all,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/after%20all.
Source: after all on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.