anything but

anything but idiom
By no means, not at all, as in He is anything but ambitious for a promotion. William Wordsworth in his long poem, The Prelude (1805-1806), wrote: “Grief call it not, 'twas anything but that.”

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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