anything but
idiom
: not at all
He looked anything but happy.
Though he said he was happy, he looked anything but.
This problem is anything but new.
Examples of anything but in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
While San Ramon residents are relatively affluent, the city’s government is anything but.
—
East Bay Times Editorial, The Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2024
The idea that the fate of the world could be in the hands of a tiny piece of crystal and Muppets that were anything but cute and cuddly disturbed me to my core.
—Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Oct. 2024
As with Uber gradually becoming a noun, verb and adjective to the masses, the bet is that with time the obscure qualities of crypto will be anything but.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024
Freshly traumatized but unable to back out of it, Skye unsettles the gala crowd by winging it when the teleprompter fails, her speech about the harrowing side of the music industry proving anything but hopeful.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for anything but 
East Bay Times Editorial, The Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2024
The idea that the fate of the world could be in the hands of a tiny piece of crystal and Muppets that were anything but cute and cuddly disturbed me to my core.
—Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Oct. 2024
As with Uber gradually becoming a noun, verb and adjective to the masses, the bet is that with time the obscure qualities of crypto will be anything but.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024
Freshly traumatized but unable to back out of it, Skye unsettles the gala crowd by winging it when the teleprompter fails, her speech about the harrowing side of the music industry proving anything but hopeful.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for anything but
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'anything but.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Anything but.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anything%20but. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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