Meanings
- Completely, fully, to one's limit.
You can't expect him to spare any more money, because he's borrowed up to the hilt from the bank for his new apartment.
1 more example
This paradox—that a peaceful European settlement was taking shape even as the two Great Powers of the day were arming themselves to the hilt and preparing for the eventuality of a thermonuclear war—was not so bizarre as it might appear.
2005, Tony Judt, “The Politics of Stability”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBNSynonyms: to the brim, all the way, from soup to nuts, in excelsis, to the backbone, to the bone, to the brim, to the core
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseCompletely, fully, to one's limit.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbin full
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
to the hilt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/to%20the%20hilt
“to the hilt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/to%20the%20hilt. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “to the hilt,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/to%20the%20hilt.
Source: to the hilt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.