BE-ALL AND END-ALL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does be-all and end-all mean? 

• BE-ALL AND END-ALL (noun)
  The noun BE-ALL AND END-ALL has 1 sense:

1. the essential factor; the all-important element; the supreme aim

  Familiarity information: BE-ALL AND END-ALL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BE-ALL AND END-ALL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The essential factor; the all-important element; the supreme aim

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

be-all and end-all; be all and end all

Context example:

profit is the be-all and end-all of business

Hypernyms ("be-all and end-all" is a kind of...):

component; constituent; element; factor; ingredient (an abstract part of something)

 Context examples 

Was this gentleman to be taken as the final type—the be-all and end-all of development?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)