Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Almost but not quite: The coat nearly fits.
- adv. In a close manner; intimately: a matter nearly affecting our interests.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Close at hand; in close proximity; at no great distance; hence, narrowly; with close scrutiny.
- Closely: as, two persons nearly related.
- Intimately; pressingly; with a close relation to one's interest or happiness.
- Within a little of; almost: as, nearly twenty; the prisoner nearly escaped; nearly dead with cold.
- With niggardliness or parsimony.
- Exactly; precisely.
Wiktionary
- adv. almost, but not quite; slightly short of
- adv. intimately; closely
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. In a near manner; not remotely; closely; intimately; almost.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
- adv. in a close manner
Etymologies
- near + -ly (Wiktionary)
Examples
“In _A. frostiana_ and the pale forms of the species the spores are nearly globose or oval, rarely with a tendency to become elliptical, but _the content is quite constantly finely granular_, while the spores of _A. cothurnata_ are perhaps more constantly globose or nearly so, but the spore is _nearly filled with a highly refractive oil globule or "nucleus.”
Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc.
“You fancy, perhaps, I have not got a friend, and you are nearly right -- _nearly_, but not altogether.”
“With a perfectly good conductor and a good battery, nearly all the electricity is passed, i.e. _nearly all_ the chemical power becomes transferable, even with a single pair of plates (807.).”
“Here is a fact, which I this very minute take from the mouth of a young coloured man, who has been to school in this state (Massachusetts) nearly nine years, and who knows grammar this day, _nearly_ as well as he did the day he first entered the school-house, under a white master.”
“In sentencing Andrew Warren, 43, to a term nearly double what was recommended under federal guidelines, U.S. District Judge Ellen S.”
The Washington Post: Ex-CIA station chief sentenced to prison for sexually abuse of Algerian woman
“The shock of hearing her name nearly made her lose her balance, but she kept on going.”
Simon & Schuster: Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light
“Speaking the name nearly made her shudder but she persisted.”
“Trouble is, she can't say how without giving away the film's secret, and nor can we even though the title nearly gives it away.”
Eva Amurri Has Good ‘Life’ Next To Evan Rachel Wood’s Bad Girl » MTV Movies Blog
“With his term nearly over, President Bush pardoned 14 people today.”
“She closed her eyes, savoring every atom of flavor, letting it melt on her tongue and trickle leisurely down her throat, an expression nearly orgasmic on her mapped and storied face.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘nearly’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Russian Doll Words
A Russian Doll word is a word that, when you remove the first and last letters, is either the empty string, or a Russian Doll word. These are all of the 6 or more letter Russian Doll words found in...
taramea, tawings, tchicks, timider, tirades, tirings, towings, trailed, trailer, trained, trainee, trainer and 2373 more...
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I Can't Believe It's Not Listed
Words that, at the I put them here, weren't being listed by anyone else in the entire universe.
vagus, neoplanet, fadiddy, cazique, catastroika, circumciser, commonplace book, danseuse, ecopod, dichloroacetate, underlay, overlay and 374 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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mahara's list
This is my eglish language professional list
Tweets
Looking for tweets for nearly.
mahara We had nearly 40 show up last night for the reception Nov 5, 2008