not really

phrase

—used to say "no" in a way that is not very forceful or definite

"Was the movie good?" "Not really."

"Do you want to go to a movie?" "No, not really."

Examples of not really in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And while drivers say that speeding saves them precious time, researchers found that is not really the case. — Alexa St. John, Fortune, 16 July 2026

The Argentines got the scoring started early but did not really do much offensively after that. — Jacob Lev, CNN Money, 11 July 2026

Yeah, so James Webb is not really trying to discover new planets. — Quanta Magazine, 9 July 2026

If people in the Democratic Party in other states don't like me, that's not really my problem. — Elena Moore, NPR, 6 July 2026

Rhymes for not really

• ideally
• lapilli
• swahili
• freely
• keeley
• mealy
• seely
• steely
• vilely
• intraperitoneally
• kiswahili
• microvilli