near

adverb

\ ˈnir

Definition of near

(Entry 1 of 4)

1 : at, within, or to a short distance or time sunset was drawing near

2 : almost, nearly was near dead

3 : in a close or intimate manner : closely near related

4 archaic : in a frugal manner

near

preposition

Definition of near (Entry 2 of 4)

: close to beaches near the city seemed to be near death

near

adjective

Definition of near (Entry 3 of 4)

1a : not far distant in time, place, or degree in the near future

b : almost happening : narrowly missed or avoided a near win in the primary a near midair collision

c : nearly not happening a near escape

2 : closely related or intimately associated her nearest and dearest friend

3a : being the closer of two the near side

b : being the left-hand one of a pair the near wheel of a cart

4 : direct, short the nearest road

5 : stingy, closefisted

6a : closely resembling the standard or typical a near desert

b : approximating the genuine near silk

near

verb

neared; nearing; nears

Definition of near (Entry 4 of 4)

: approach

Other Words from near Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about near

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Synonyms & Antonyms for near

Synonyms: Adverb

around, by, close, hard, in, nearby, nigh

Synonyms: Preposition

about, around, by, next to, nigh

Synonyms: Adjective

closer, hither, nigher, this

Synonyms: Verb

approach, belly up, close, close in, come up, draw on, nigh

Antonyms: Adjective

far, farther, further, opposite, other, that

Antonyms: Verb

back (up or away), recede, retire, retreat, withdraw

Examples of near in a Sentence

Adverb

The plant was near dead when I got it. as the campers grew cold, so they gravitated nearer to the campfire

Preposition

I left the box near the door. The cat won't go near fire. There are several beaches near here. She came home near midnight. We feared he was near death.

Adjective

The nearest grocery store is three blocks away. The near side headlight is out.

Verb

As the date of the performance neared, we grew more and more anxious. He always cheers up when baseball season nears. The airplane began to descend as it neared the island. He must be nearing 80 years of age. The negotiators were nearing a decision.

Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb

The ink sticks only to the original drawing, which is then pressed onto a piece of paper, resulting in a near-perfect reproduction. — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, "How Posters Became Art," 1 July 2019 Portlanders have a near-perfect Sunday in store to finish off the week with high temperatures expected to reach into the mid 80s. — oregonlive.com, "Portland metro Sunday weather: high temps in the 80s to close out the week," 30 June 2019 Drizzle held down attendance at some of the events early in the month, but Tawfik said the near-perfect weather on Wednesday brought out a crowd. — Don Stacom, courant.com, "Second venue for New Britain farmers markets: Monday night concerts," 27 June 2019 At the time, American Indian Model’s middle schools had at the time the best test scores in Oakland and among the highest in the state; its high school also had near-perfect scores. — Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, "Oakland: Ex-American Indian Public Charter School director gets probation in grant fraud case," 24 June 2019 It would’ve taken a near-perfect throw from the warning track to record an out at the plate. — Bobby Nightengale, Cincinnati.com, "Yasiel Puig's arm, defensive reputation are big weapons for the Cincinnati Reds," 18 June 2019 But place in that glorious setting a near-perfect production of William Shakespeare’s finest rom-com and the experience levels up to sublime. — Allison Adato, EW.com, "Danielle Brooks shines in a near-perfect Much Ado About Nothing: EW review," 12 June 2019 Facebook could simply take what the advertiser knows into account about what the user has bought or browsed, and provide as near-perfect an ad experience as possible. — Antonio García Martínez, WIRED, "Are Facebook Ads Discriminatory? It’s Complicated," 11 June 2019 With nearly 700 reviews and a near-perfect five-star rating on Amazon, the NEX dish rack is clearly the best way to give this trend a try. — Lauren Smith, Good Housekeeping, "The Finnish Cleaning Method Will Forever Change the Way You Dry Dishes," 7 June 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Preposition

Both local fire and police departments tweeted that the street, as well as all businesses near the blast site, are closed to traffic until further notice. — Matt Mcnulty, PEOPLE.com, "At Least 21 Injured After Explosion at Florida Shopping Center: 'It Was Like a War Zone'," 6 July 2019 Fellow protesters and mourners erected a shrine in his honor, laying wreaths and origami flowers near the site of his death. — Time Staff, Time, "Another Hong Kong Protester Fell to Her Death After Leaving a Message for the Government," 5 July 2019 Newington’s proposed zoning rules serve to control any future development near the site, but also are an expression of cooperation with the state’s plan to add rail stations. — Kathleen Mcwilliams, courant.com, "Public hearing scheduled for new zoning regulations for development near proposed Newington Train Station," 5 July 2019 Members of the camp were in the woods at the time but were not near the crash site, Stephanie said. — Alyssa Lukpat, BostonGlobe.com, "3 injured after plane crashes in Montville, Maine," 4 July 2019 There’s no telling how many stations there are, but Isabelle traveled to one in the mountains near Al’s crash site to acquire gas and supplies to get her helicopter up and running again. — Nick Romano, EW.com, "Everything we know (so far) about the three rings in The Walking Dead universe," 2 July 2019 Lemon said trustees worked for several months with Woeste Investments and residents who live near the four lots on Cambridge Avenue to come up with a project acceptable to everyone involved. — Jeanne Houck, Cincinnati.com, "'People Over Porsches' loses first round in proposed Columbia Twp. dealership expansion," 2 July 2019 Anybody in those states who live near a border will just go to an adjacent state and buy fireworks there to avoid paying the 12 percent. — Luke Winkie, Vox, "Anime brings in more than $19 billion a year. Its artists are earning barely enough to survive.," 2 July 2019 More than 16,000 postcards about the event were mailed to residents and property owners near the site. — Anna Beahm | Abeahm@al.com, al.com, "Carraway hospital site redevelopment slated to begin in Spring 2020," 30 June 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Its nearest evolutionary relatives are viruses found in the bodies of sheep-sucking ticks in Kyrgyzstan and camel-chewing ticks in India, both of which attack neurons and cause brain inflammation when transmitted to humans. — Megan Molteni, WIRED, "The Meat-Allergy Tick Also Carries a Mystery Killer Virus," 8 July 2019 Phase 2 of the project is anchored by a $40 million luxury hotel, but progress is slow as the first bond payment draws near. — Natalia E. Contreras, Indianapolis Star, "Some buildings are up at City Center. Some are not. Here's what that means for Carmel taxpayers.," 8 July 2019 As for his cohorts in Los Angeles that day, his nearest 70-74 competitor was more than an hour behind. — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, "A 70-year-old L.A. marathoner hounded by cheating allegations is found dead in a river," 8 July 2019 The near absence of gravity also is meant to provide a different perspective of how people on earth develop such neurological disorders as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and autism. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "UCSD to send ‘mini-brains’ to International Space Station for neural disease research," 7 July 2019 But many families still fall in between, earning too much to qualify for public programs while not being able to afford private ones, or living too far from the nearest school. — Nellie Bowles, BostonGlobe.com, "Virtual pre-K closes a gap, and exposes it," 7 July 2019 As for his cohorts in Los Angeles that day, his nearest 70-74 competitor was more than an hour behind. — Stephanie Becker And Jason Hanna, CNN, "A 70-year-old marathoner hounded by cheating allegations is found dead in a river," 6 July 2019 The result has been the consolidation of political power and the near disintegration of representative democracy. — Justin Amash, The Denver Post, "Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving the GOP," 5 July 2019 His land is at the end of a long dirt track that few vehicles can travel on, about six hours’ drive from the nearest tarmac road. — The Economist, "Cocaine production in Colombia is at historic highs," 5 July 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Construction at a Phoenix church that sits just off Interstate 10 is nearing completion after more than 10 years with the help of volunteers. — Brieanna J. Frank, azcentral, "La Luz Del Mundo church in Phoenix nearing end of decade-long construction project," 29 June 2019 Here is an update on where each project stands: Meadow View Elementary School The new Meadow View Elementary School is nearing completion, just 10 weeks before students walk through its doors for the first time. — Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Oconomowoc's new Meadow View Elementary is nearing completion ahead of the new school year," 28 June 2019 For now, the process that became public knowledge on Saturday remains on schedule, and is nearing completion. — Dom Amore, courant.com, "UConn Board of Trustees poised to vote on Big East move with formal announcement planned for Thursday," 26 June 2019 Several homes nearing completion will also be open for tour. — Katherine Feser, Houston Chronicle, "Lennar opens urban community in Garden Oaks/Oak Forest area," 20 June 2019 Through his high school coach, Lebron reached out to the staff at the College of Central Florida as his rehab neared completion. — Nathan Ruiz, baltimoresun.com, "'You need someone to spark a fire in you': Orioles prospect David Lebron overcomes hurdles on path back to baseball," 18 June 2019 The Harwood Heights Village Board voted Thursday to cut the cost of upgrades to the village’s pump house by about $30,000, lowering the price of the project, which is nearing completion, to about $1.3 million. — Taylor Hartz, chicagotribune.com, "Harwood Heights Board lowers cost of pump house upgrades to $1.3 million," 14 June 2019 The company said this week that is talks with Ford Motor Co. are nearing completion. — William Boston, WSJ, "Volkswagen’s Truck Unit IPO Signals Broader Restructuring," 14 June 2019 Maddock said there could be a large number of bidders on the Blue Water Bridge, if calling for a request for proposals was included in the House transportation budget bill, which is nearing completion. — Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press, "GOP wants to explore selling Blue Water Bridge, other assets to fix Michigan roads," 5 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'near.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.