nearly

adverb

near·​ly ˈnir-lē 

1

: in a close manner or relationship

nearly related

2

a

: almost but not quite

nearly identical

nearly a year later

b

: to the least extent

not nearly as good as we expected

Synonyms of nearly

• closely

Examples of nearly in a Sentence

I see her nearly every day.

We lived there for nearly two years.

Nearly all of us got sick that weekend.

Recent Examples on the Web

Ford was switched to tackle midstream in the early portion of last season and was barely needed with Brown and Mims taking nearly every snap. —Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2026

Artemis 2 looped around the moon's far side today (April 6), in a nearly seven-hour encounter that gave its four astronauts views of Earth's nearest neighbor that human eyes had never seen before. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 7 Apr. 2026

That took share from price as sellers’ top concern, falling from nearly half of agents ranking it first to 39%. —Diana Olick, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2026

The colonel had been on the ground in Iran for nearly two days. —Lucia I Suarez Sang, CBS News, 7 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1561, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing nearly

• nearly gave someone a heart attack
• not nearly
• pretty near/nearly

Rhymes for nearly

• clearly
• dearly
• merely
• queerly
• yearly
• austerely
• severely
• sincerely
• cavalierly

Kids Definition

nearly

adverb

near·​ly ˈni(ə)r-lē 

1

: in a close manner or relationship

nearly related

2

: almost but not quite

nearly the same

nearly missed the train

3

: to the least extent

not nearly enough