nearly

adverb

near·ly | \ ˈnir-lē

Definition of nearly

1 : in a close manner or relationship nearly related

2a : almost but not quite nearly identical nearly a year later

b : to the least extent not nearly as good as we expected

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about nearly

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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

Since its inception in 2015, the Queens Night Market has become one of the more prominent events on the New York City food scene, welcoming 10,000-plus people nearly every Saturday to its location in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. — Charles Passy, WSJ, "Queens Night Market Begins a New Chapter," 7 Mar. 2019 In our tests, this machine earned high scores at nearly every task, including kneading bread dough and shredding mozzarella cheese. — Betty Gold, Good Housekeeping, "The 7 Best Food Processors to Buy, According to Kitchen Appliance Experts," 1 Feb. 2019 And for nearly every question imaginable, there’s a way to bet on the answer. — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, "Weirder Wagers: 7 Strange Ways You Can Bet on the Super Bowl," 30 Jan. 2019 With eight different kinds of treatments, from roller shades to wooden blinds, there is one for nearly every kind of room. — Madeleine Bokan, House Beautiful, "These Custom Window Shades Are 30% Off," 15 Jan. 2019 What’s really puzzling, though, is that in the most recent standoff, the White House was demanding $5 billion for a border wall — a sum that’s not nearly enough to pay for it under any of Trump’s various estimates. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "I’m starting to think Mexico isn’t going to pay for the wall," 20 Dec. 2018 Food insecurity rates among Native Americans are nearly twice those of the general population. — Sandy M. Fernandez, Woman's Day, "How Three Women Are Pioneering to End Hunger in the U.S.," 14 Nov. 2018 One year to do all this was just enough; any less would have been not nearly enough. — Mark Holgate, Vogue, "Alessandra Facchinetti’s Incredibly Lavish Costumes for Verdi’s Don Carlo Are Operatic Couture," 27 Oct. 2018 Even though it's framed as a Halloween collection, nearly everything can serve an everyday-makeup purpose. — Marci Robin, Allure, "Wet n Wild's Not Your Basic Witch Highlighter Is My $5 Secret for a Witchy Smoky Eye," 5 Oct. 2018

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