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for all intents and purposes

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for all intents and purposes

Cliché seeming as if; looking as if. Tom stood there, looking, for all intents and purposes, as if he could strangle Sally, but, being the gentleman that he is, he just glowered. Mary: Is the car washed now? John: For all intents and purposes, yes, but I didn't dry it yet.

See also: all, and, intent, purpose

for all intents and purposes

also to all intents and purposes

almost completely pretty much Escape from that prison was, for all intents and purposes, impossible. A licensed physician's assistant is to all intents and purposes a doctor.

See also: all, and, intent, purpose