All told
Example: All told, there were twenty people at the party.
Definition
"All told" is an expression used to indicate the total number or amount of something after everything has been counted or considered. For example, in the phrase 'All told, there were twenty people at the party,' it means that the total number of people was twenty.
Etymology
The phrase "all told" originates from combining 'all,' meaning everything or the whole, with 'told,' an old past participle of 'tell,' which once meant to count or recount. Together, "all told" literally means 'all counted,' a phrase that has been used in English since the 16th century to signify the total amount after counting.
Learn to use this expression actively
"All told" appears in the Vocaplus list "English - General - Idioms and Proverbs - (C1) - set 1", containing 130 commonly used expressions.
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