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

Over the past three months, international futures markets saw cocoa rise by more than 60% cumulatively, coffee gain over 30%, and raw sugar futures increase by nearly 30%. — CNBC, 3 Sep. 2026

For nearly two additional years, all the way to a six-hour cut of the movie that went deep on Musk’s 2025 DOGE era and his SpaceX IPO plate-spin this summer. — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2026

Stanford's economic data shows most organizations that report financial impact from AI still see cost savings under 10% and revenue gains under 5%, while AI agent deployment sits in the single digits across nearly every business function. — Brian Harmison, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

But because the system is a stronghold for the endangered Alabama cave shrimp, monitoring teams have explored the cave nearly every month since the early 1990s. — Elizabeth Anne Brown, Scientific American, 2 Sep. 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