Alternatives to “at the end of the day”

Posted by on Jul 1, 2020 in Uncategorized | 4 comments

If you pay attention, it’s appalling how many times the phrase “at the end of the day” is used. It seems to be everyone’s favorite way to force a half-finished sentence to completion. In most circumstances, the phrase can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence.

  • You’re right. At the end of the day, Valentine’s Day is a fraud. Thank you for not ever giving me anything on February 14.
  • At the end of the day, why do you insist on writing such insipid, dim-witted screenplays?
  •  No one reads the annual report . . . at the end of the day, we all know that.

We’re all writers here. Can we come up with a few alternatives to “at the end of the day,” if indeed such a phrase is called for ? Here are some to start with, though not all of these will apply in every context.

  1. After all
  2. All in all
  3. All things being equal
  4. All things considered
  5. All told
  6. As a last resort
  7. As time goes on
  8. As this plays out
  9. At a future time
  10. At a later time
  11. At last
  12. At length
  13. At long last
  14. Be that as it may
  15. By and by
  16. Chiefly
  17. Concisely
  18. Considering everything
  19. Considering this
  20. Essentially
  21. Eventually
  22. Even so
  23. Finally
  24. For all that
  25. For the most part
  26. In a nutshell
  27. In any event
  28. In closing
  29. In due course
  30. In essence
  31. In outline
  32. In passing
  33. In summary
  34. In the end
  35. In the final analysis
  36. In the long run
  37. In this situation
  38. In time
  39. Intrinsically
  40. Last of all
  41. Lastly
  42. Not to put too fine a point on it
  43. Notwithstanding
  44. One day
  45. On the whole
  46. Sometime
  47. Sooner or later
  48. Succinctly
  49. Taken together
  50. To be brief
  51. To come to the point
  52. To conclude
  53. To put it briefly
  54. To summarize
  55. Subsequently
  56. Substantially
  57. Ultimately
  58. When all is said and done
  59. When push comes to shove
  60. Without wasting words
  61. Wrapping up

 

Readers . . . do you have any others to share?

 

 

 

 

 

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