"..all but.." clarification please

[Blkbull013]

Hi all,

For a long time, I am a lurker on this educational forum, as I learnt some good deal of english as I'm not native speaker.

Anyway, I can't find any thread in this forum that would answer my idiom question, and would like some helps or clarification what it means.

1.) "Today the idea of a developed West and the developing rest is all but irrelevant".

Does it mean that the developed west and the developing rest is anything except for irrelevancy?

Or does it mean that the developed west and the developing rest is ALMOST irrelevant?

I checked google but it couldn't answer nor clarify for me.

Please clarify/explain about this tricky idiom of "all but".

Many thanks in advance.

[Dozy]

There was once an idea of "a developed West and the developing rest".

Now this idea is almost entirely irrelevant.

"all but" = almost entirely; very nearly

[Blkbull013]

thanks for the explanation and clarification.

Why not just using "almost entirely or nearly" in place of "all but" for simpler sake?

Thanks again

[Dozy]

"all but" is a fairly common idiom. The author could have said this in various ways; however, he or she chose "all but" and there is no reason to object to that choice.

[Blkbull013]

I understand much better with the clearer meaning of "all but" now. Thank you for the explanation and clarification, Dozy.

Have a good day, mate :)