all but

• all-but

all but (not comparable)

1. Very nearly; everything short of.
   • 1977, George Lucas, Star Wars, 20th Century Fox, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

     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.

   • 1979, The Boomtown Rats (lyrics and music), “Wind Chill Factor (Minus Zero)”, in The Fine Art of Surfacing:

     I practice nightly, I try to keep ahead / This art of surfacing is all but dead

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:

     When the first wave of postwar immigrants arrived in Britain in the 1950s and ’60s, it was a period of rising wages, full employment, an expanding welfare state and strong trade unions. Today, Britain’s manufacturing base has all but disappeared, working-class communities have disintegrated, unions have been neutered and the welfare state has begun to crumble.

   • 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport‎:

     A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn.

   The food is all but finished.

2. Everything except.

   All but three of the students skipped school the day of the parade.

• almost, nearly, nigh on

• all but dissertation
• all but thesis