Meanings
- Emphatically yes; certainly; definitely.
By all means take as much salt as you need: that's what neighbors are for.
3 more examples
There is no danger to most people from taking a bath in a state of ordinary perspiration. But one should by all means avoid it if he is overheated or fatigued.
1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, PhiladelphiaEach, in its own way, was unforgettable. It would be difficult to… Rome! By all means, Rome. I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live.
1953, Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter, John Dighton, Roman Holiday, spoken by Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn)"By all means we want people to use social media, but we do not want you to use it in ways that will incite violence," said Jonathan Toy, Southwark council's head of community safety. "This remains a big issue for us and without some form of censorship purely focusing on [violent videos], I'm not sure how we can address it."
2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in The GuardianSynonyms: absolutely, of course, to be sure, undoubtedly
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseEmphatically yes; certainly; definitely.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbdefinitely or certainly
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian определено
- определено (opredeleno)emphatically yes, definitely
Chinese Cantonese 千祈
- 千祈 (cin¹ kei⁴)emphatically yes, definitely
Chinese Mandarin 千萬 /千万
- 千萬 /千万 (qiānwàn)emphatically yes, definitely
Finnish kaikin mokomin, ihmeessä
- kaikin mokominemphatically yes, definitely
- ihmeessäemphatically yes, definitely
German unbedingt
- unbedingtemphatically yes, definitely
Icelandic fyrir alla muni, endilega
- fyrir alla muniemphatically yes, definitely
- endilegaemphatically yes, definitely
- um að geraemphatically yes, definitely
Italian pure
- pureemphatically yes, definitely
Japanese どうしても, きっと
- どうしても (dōshitemo)emphatically yes, definitely
- きっと (kitto)emphatically yes, definitely
Latin quam maxime, quoquomodo
- quam maximeemphatically yes, definitely
- quoquomodoemphatically yes, definitely
Polish zdecydowanie, jak najbardziej
- zdecydowanieemphatically yes, definitely
- jak najbardziejemphatically yes, definitely
- ze wszech miaremphatically yes, definitely
Portuguese absolutamente, com certeza
- absolutamenteemphatically yes, definitely
- com certezaemphatically yes, definitely
- sem dúvidaemphatically yes, definitely
Russian обяза́тельно, во что́ бы то ни ста́ло
- обяза́тельно (objazátelʹno)emphatically yes, definitely
- во что́ бы то ни ста́ло (vo štó by to ni stálo)emphatically yes, definitely
- любо́й цено́й (ljubój cenój)emphatically yes, definitely
- ра́ди бо́га (rádi bóga)emphatically yes, definitely
Scottish Gaelic air a h-uile cor
- air a h-uile coremphatically yes, definitely
Spanish en toda regla, sin duda
- en toda reglaemphatically yes, definitely
- sin dudaemphatically yes, definitely
- adelanteemphatically yes, definitely
- mediante todos los mediosliterally
Swedish för all del
- för all delemphatically yes, definitely
Turkish kesinlikle, her hâlükârda
- kesinlikleemphatically yes, definitely
- her hâlükârdaemphatically yes, definitely
- ne olursa olsunemphatically yes, definitely
Cite this entry
by all means. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20all%20means
“by all means.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20all%20means. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by all means,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20all%20means.
Source: by all means on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.