all but

all but (http://definr.com/all but)

     adv : (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite
           accomplished; "the job is (just) about done"; "the baby
           was almost asleep when the alarm sounded"; "we're
           almost finished"; "the car all but ran her down"; "he
           nearly fainted"; "talked for nigh onto 2 hours"; "the
           recording is well-nigh perfect"; "virtually all the
           parties signed the contract"; (`near' is used
           informally for `nearly' as in "I was near exhausted by
           the run"; `most' is used informally for `almost' as in
           "most everybody agrees") [syn: about, just about, almost,
            most, nearly, near, nigh, virtually, well-nigh]