nothing short of

nothing short of

At or near the same level of; equivalent to; exemplary of. Her latest book is nothing short of a masterpiece. The ambassador's actions were nothing short of treason.
See also: nothing, of, short
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

nothing short of something

more or less the same as something bad; as bad as something. His behavior was nothing short of criminal. Climbing those mountains alone is nothing short of suicide.
See also: nothing, of, short
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

nothing short of

The equivalent of, the same as, as in His accusation is nothing short of slander. This term is slightly stronger than little short of, meaning "almost the same as," as in Her claim is little short of stupid. The first term dates from about 1800, the second from about 1830. Also see short of.
See also: nothing, of, short
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

little/nothing short of ˈsth

used when you are saying that something is almost true, or is equal to something: Last year’s figures were little short of disastrous. The transformation has been nothing short of a miracle.
See also: little, nothing, of, short, sth
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • little/nothing short of sth
  • nothing of the kind
  • nothing of the kind/sort
  • nothing of the sort
  • nothing
  • nothing in it for (one)
  • No news is good news
  • be worked up about (something)
  • be worked up over (something)
  • nothing more than
References in classic literature
Nothing short of flying will keep pace with me, to-day.'
Our grand master is still to be named; for like royal kings of old times, we find the headwaters of our fraternity in nothing short of the great gods themselves.
He was ambitious enough to be contented with nothing short of the highest rank of overseers, and persevering enough to reach the height of his ambition.
The Tharks were having their hands full in the center of the room, and I began to realize that nothing short of a miracle could save Dejah Thoris and myself, when I saw Tars Tarkas surging through the crowd of pygmies that swarmed about him.
Nothing short of the fair and honourable will satisfy the delicacy of their minds; and if any of their actions fall short of this mark, they mope and pine, are as uneasy and restless as a murderer, who is afraid of a ghost, or of the hangman.
He knew there was a vast world outside, to whom Disruption Principles were as the chatter of tree-top apes; the paper brought him chill whiffs from it; he had met Englishmen who had asked lightly if he did not belong to the Church of Scotland, and then had failed to be much interested by his elucidation of that nice point; it was an evil, wild, rebellious world, lying sunk in DOZENEDNESS, for nothing short of a Scots word will paint this Scotsman's feelings.
The parley continued; the Arickaras released one horse and then another, in earnest of their proposition; finding, however, that nothing short of the relinquishment of all their spoils would purchase the lives of the captives, they abandoned them to their fate, moving off with many parting words and lamentable howlings.
And our State must once more enlarge; and this time the will be nothing short of a whole army, which will have to go out and fight with the invaders for all that we have, as well as for the things and persons whom we were describing above.
It's nothing short of wonderful how she's improved these three years, but especially in looks.
Tyler's assistant secretary, who had been left at home, assured me that there was no doubt but that the Toreador had sailed as promised, since he knew his employer well enough to be positive that nothing short of an act of God would prevent his doing what he had planned to do.
In this way a small gang of lurkers will hurry off the cavalry of a large war party, for when once a drove of horses are seized with panic, they become frantic, and nothing short of broken necks can stop them.
Kantos Kan was confident now that the man's ambitions were fully aroused and that nothing short of the title of Jeddak of Helium would satisfy him.
Of course, being left so much as I was to my own whim in such things, I could not keep a just mean; I had an aversion for the Latin derivatives which was nothing short of a craze.
The knights were temporarily down, but if I would keep them so I must just simply paralyze them -- nothing short of that would answer.
The notion was nothing short of this, why should I not write the tales myself?