Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adv. At all times; always: ever hoping to strike it rich.
- adv. At any time: Have you ever been to Europe?
- adv. In any way; at all: How did they ever manage? See Usage Note at rarely.
- adv. To a great extent or degree. Used for emphasis often with so: He was ever so sorry. Was she ever mad!
- idiom again Now and then; occasionally.
- idiom for ever and a day Always; forever.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adv. Always
- adv. At any time.
- adv. In any way
- adv. As intensifier.
- adj. Occurring at any time, occurring even but once during a timespan.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adv. At any time; at any period or point of time.
- adv. At all times; through all time; always; forever.
- adv. Without cessation; continually.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- At all times; always; continually.
- At any time; at any period or point of time, past or future: in negative, interrogative, or comparative sentences: as, no man is ever the happier for injustice; did you ever see anything like it? I do not think I ever did.
- In any degree; any; at all: usually in connection with an adverb or adjective in the comparative degree, and after a negative.
- To any possible degree; in any possible case: with as: a word of enforcement or emphasis: as, as soon as ever he had done it.
- For all time; to the end of life.
- Continually; incessantly; without intermission: as, he is for ever in the way; she is for ever singing, from morning to night.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adv. at all times; all the time and on every occasion
- adv. at any time
- adv. (intensifier for adjectives) very
Etymologies
Examples
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Which means I am never, ever, *ever* going to find one.
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And no one ever, *ever* buys candy corn for themselves.
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But my real point is that nobody ever, *ever* has any actual evidence.
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This is a serious problem for the boy scouts and even the girl scouts have very strict rules about children ever *ever* being alone with only one adult and they have a right to enforce as best they can an environment where it is *very* clear that sexual activity between boys or between scout leaders and boys is not in any way acceptable.
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But if there was ever *ever* the merest suggestion that my child's citizenship was affected by the fact that his parents were active duty military stationed overseas it would have been *decided* or the military wouldn't so much as function.
Who will determine whether John McCain is a "natural-born citizen," qualified for the presidency?
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A comic that no one has ever asked for ever** is listed in Overstreet, while a comic by an acclaimed, award-winning cartoonist is not.
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They didn't want her to grow up, or have friends, or ever _ever_ have a boyfriend.
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I found my voice as she tucked me into the front seat of a dilapidated sedan, and I said it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen, _ever_.
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Lord's Prayer is marked for praise by a Termination, viz. _for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever_.
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When it is to be used for Praise, the words "_for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever_" are placed at the end: when it is to be used for Prayer, the Lesser Litany "_Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us_" is placed at the beginning.
Comments
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