“Of All Time” Meaning + Use

Vocabulary / By

When you hear or see the phrase, “of all time,” it’s referring to someone, someplace or something that stands out above everything else. However, it indicates a permanence that spans history, the present moment and quite possibly the future. Therefore, it applies to rare and notable people, places or things.

Ergo, when using “of all time,” it has a classification that’s superb to all others like it. It illustrates how special something is in comparison to anything else. Of course, you could also use it for comical effect to mark notoriety or infamous status.

Examples for “Of All Time”

The best way to understand how to use “of all time” in a sentence, it’s best to review some examples for context.

Babe Ruth is arguably the most controversial baseball player of all time.

Mary thinks you’re the greatest deceiver of all time.

The fire chief said the blaze was the worst he experienced of all time.

Charley has the best music of all time sitting on the shelf.

Roses are the most sought-after flowers of all time.

Grammatical Evaluation

From a grammatical standpoint, “of all time” is an adjective phrase used to describe a noun. Therefore the phrase will always be either before or after a noun. You can use it in the middle or end of a sentence, but rarely will you start it.

Also, in most cases, you will use some tense and conjugation of the verb “to be.” However, sometimes you will also see “to have.” Very few other verbs will coincide with the phrase, “of all time.”  So, now let’s pick apart some of the examples and identify the sections for further clarity.

Babe Ruth is arguably the most controversial baseball player of all time.

There are many baseball players throughout the world. But Babe Ruth’s history makes him stand out in comparison. He isn’t the average type of ballplayer.

Mary thinks you’re the greatest deceiver of all time.

For this example, “you’re” contains both the object “of all time” and the verb, “to be.” This is a contraction for quicker execution of the sentence. It’s an abbreviated form for “you are.”

The fire chief said the blaze was the worst he experienced of all time.

Understanding what “of all time” is modifying in the example above may be confusing because “the worst” is also an adjective, followed by “he experienced.” When you come across a sentence like this, the best way to check what “of all time” describes is by rewriting the sentence and taking out extraneous noun-verb combinations.

The fire chief said this was the worst blaze of all time.

Conclusion

“Of all time” is an adjective phrase to indicate a noun standing out above all others like it. But it has the implication of outdoing anything in time and space, including the past, present and future. This is a rare phrase reserved for special circumstances to indicate something truly outstanding.

 

Conor
Latest posts by Conor (see all)