well
noun
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Definition of well
(Entry 1 of 5)
well
verbDefinition of well (Entry 2 of 5)
well
adverb
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best\ ˈbest
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Definition of well (Entry 3 of 5)
well
interjectionDefinition of well (Entry 4 of 5)
well
adjectiveDefinition of well (Entry 5 of 5)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for well
Synonyms: Noun
cradle, font, fountain, fountainhead, origin, root, seedbed, source, spring, wellspring
Synonyms: Adverb
acceptably, adequately, all right, alright, creditably, decently, fine, good, middlingly, nicely, OK (or okay), passably, respectably, satisfactorily, serviceably, so-so, sufficiently, tolerably
Synonyms: Interjection
ah, aha, come on, fie, indeed, my word, no, pshaw, what, why
Synonyms: Adjective
able-bodied, bouncing, fit, hale, healthy, hearty, robust, sound, well-conditioned, whole, wholesome
Antonyms: Adverb
bad, badly, deficiently, ill, inadequately, insufficiently, intolerably, poorly, unacceptably, unsatisfactorily
Antonyms: Adjective
ailing, diseased, ill, sick, unfit, unhealthy, unsound, unwell
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Examples of well in a Sentence
Noun
his quirkily dysfunctional family proved to be a bottomless well of inspiration for the novelist the spot where the spring bubbles up to the surface and forms a deep wellAdverb
“How did everything go?” “It went well, thank you.” She works well under pressure. I did surprisingly well on my history test. The company is doing well. He has his own business and is doing well for himself. You got a perfect score! Well done! She sings and plays the guitar quite well. The essay is well written. He doesn't smoke or drink, and he eats well. She doesn't treat her boyfriend very well.Adjective
The children are well again. I don't feel very well. You don't look so well. I hope you get well soon. I hope all is well with you and your family.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The event was to raise funds and awareness of the charity’s work supporting the mental health and well-being of young people whose lives have been affected by HIV in southern Africa. — Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, "Prince Harry and Prince William Go Head-to-Head in Charity Polo Match — with Their Kids Watching!," 10 July 2019 The 36-year-old aims to define a new era for Instagram, calling the well-being of users his top priority. — Katy Steinmetz, Time, "Inside Instagram's War on Bullying," 8 July 2019 Taylor Energy remains committed to its role as the Responsible Party and continues to advocate for a response that is grounded in science and prioritizes the well-being of the environment. — Darryl Fears, Washington Post, "A ‘volcano’ at the bottom of the gulf," 1 July 2019 The charity’s board did not respond to questions about the decisions made by its donors, how much of the charity’s assets still remained and how much funding will be committed to the well-being of those abused while in the charity’s care. — Finlay Young, ProPublica, "More Than Me Shuts Down," 27 June 2019 Costumes will be auctioned and proceeds will go to her Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on the well-being of young people. — Catharine Hamm, latimes.com, "Vegas Escapes: 4 ways to save money on hotels, food and transportation," 27 June 2019 Urban parks and green space enhance the well-being of city residents, promoting physical activity, mental health and a sense of community. — Lincoln Larson, The Conversation, "Can parks help cities fight crime?," 25 June 2019 Girls for Gender Equity (GGE), a group promoting the well-being of girls, held a rally and court hearing in April to address the lack of Title IX officers. — Ayanna Runcie, CBS News, "Girls win first battle in adding more Title IX coordinators to NYC schools," 20 June 2019 Trans Lifeline is a non-profit dedicated to the well-being of transgender people and staffed by transgender people, for transgender people. — Kimberly Shappley, Good Housekeeping, "The Story of My Transgender Daughter Went Viral. Here's How Life Has Been for Us Since.," 20 July 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Wolff said as tears started to well up in his eyes. — Dane Mizutani, Twin Cities, "Matthew Wolff wins 3M Open with clutch eagle on No. 18: ‘It’s life-changing’," 7 July 2019 The tears started welling up as my friends called to me from outside the dressing room, asking me to come out and show them my favorites. — Nadia Boujarwah, Glamour, "I Never Realized I Was Different—Until I Had to Buy a Plus-Size Prom Dress," 17 June 2019 Their joy was unmistakable: Zion Williamson shed some happy tears, Ja Morant shared a long embrace with his father, and RJ Barrett welled up as his father, Rowan, expressed his pride. — Ben Golliver, courant.com, "2019 NBA draft: Winners (Pelicans, Hawks) and losers (trade rules, Warriors)," 21 June 2019 Tears of pride welled up in some parents' eyes as their children marched from a tunnel in blue caps and gowns. — J.l. Kirven, Detroit Free Press, "How Detroit Lions Academy helps get struggling students back on track," 19 June 2019 BART’s directors, like its riders, have become preoccupied with social issues that keep welling up on the system, such as scofflaws who hop gates and the swelling homeless population. — Rachel Swan, SFChronicle.com, "BART board approves budget, including fare hike compromise," 13 June 2019 The interrogator bit down hard on the towel and screamed, and his eyes welled up and reddened. — Paul Yoon, Harper's magazine, "Run Me to Earth," 10 Mar. 2019 Another Springs/Rogers/Sturken track, the song is a uptempo lament on the insatiable power of attraction in which the vocalist alternates between seductively welling her voice into one verse and then tersely recoiling into the next. — Martin Johnson, WSJ, "‘Indigo’ by Kandace Springs Review: Adding Emotion Through Precision," 6 Sep. 2018 Tucker’s tail wagged furiously, and Cawley’s eyes welled up. — Liz Kowalczyk, BostonGlobe.com, "In ICUs, a furry friend to comfort patients," 15 Mar. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb
Golliver: To me the healthy sign that things are going well for the Lakers is if Anthony Davis is the NBA scoring leader. — Andrew Sharp And Ben Golliver, SI.com, "Don’t Forget That Anthony Davis Is on the Lakers Too | Open Floor Podcast," 13 July 2019 The visibility of Dominicans in Boston was practically nil until well into the 1990s. — Rita Indiana, BostonGlobe.com, "The David Ortiz shooting and the corruption of the Dominican dream," 12 July 2019 The executive producer of Sonic the Hedgehog responds to movie's delay after fan backlash forces redesign The Sonic redesign seems to be going well. — Ale Russian, PEOPLE.com, "Sonic the Hedgehog Has Been Redesigned For New Movie — and Producer Thinks Fans Will Be Happy," 12 July 2019 Durant and Irving are known to be temperamental when things don’t go well. — New York Times, "N.B.A. Superstars’ New Strategy: Tag-Team a Title," 12 July 2019 Finally, if all goes well, the Pragyan rover will roll onto the lunar surface at an average speed of one centimeter per second to traverse a distance of 500 meters. — Shekhar Chandra, Scientific American, "What to Expect from India’s Second Moon Mission," 12 July 2019 Watching the red-carpet lineup at the ESPYs was enough to get a committed girl in trouble (drooling usually doesn’t go over well with bae). — Shalwah Evans, Essence, "The Men Of The ESPYs Reminded Us Of Just How Much We Love Black Men In Beards," 11 July 2019 Disney has even gone back to that well once already. — Kendra James, The Verge, "Disney’s live-action Lion King is pretty, but so unnecessary," 11 July 2019 If all goes well, new furniture and gear from the current Sidewalk headquarters could be moved in July 26-29. — Mary Colurso | Mcolurso@al.com, al.com, "It’s crunch time for Sidewalk Film Festival and new cinema at Pizitz," 11 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Interjection
Having a good, well-rounded family emergency plan and some basic emergency supplies in place can put your mind at ease and go a long way to making the aftermath of an unexpected event more bearable. — Rebecca Mcbane, South Florida Parenting, "Don't Wait for the Storm: The most important step in a Family Emergency Plan is to make one," 30 Aug. 2017 If such practices made going about the activities of daily life terrifying for Arpaio’s Latino constituents (especially the undocumented ones), well, that was the point. — Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "‘Sheriff Joe’ and Everyday American Authoritarianism," 30 Aug. 2017 Well, the knock-it-off suggestion is a good place to start. — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, "7 Signs You're Dealing With a Passive-Aggressive Person," 30 Aug. 2017 If the 10 pilot subjects tolerate the treatment well and no safety issues arise— seizures are the primary concern—Steele’s group will launch a double-blind phase II trial with 60 cocaine users. — Meredith Wadman, Science | AAAS, "Brain-altering magnetic pulses could zap cocaine addiction," 29 Aug. 2017 Well, the good people there need to do more to stop the evil their state pushes. — Ramsey Touchberry, USA TODAY College, "Instructor calls Harvey 'karma' for Texas Republicans. University fires him.," 29 Aug. 2017 Well, convicting someone of contempt is the one and only way the judicial branch can put muscle behind its decisions. — Nardine Saad, latimes.com, "Trevor Noah says Trump's pardon of Sheriff Arpaio renders courts powerless," 29 Aug. 2017 September's about to be lit (well, as lit as classic Disney films can get). — Lindsey Lanquist, SELF, "Everything Coming to Netflix in September 2017," 23 Aug. 2017 Synthetic strings, for example, may not have been this capable of producing actual emotion, since, well, the early-’80s that Granduciel so often references. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, "The Classic-Rock Ecstasy of The War on Drugs," 23 Aug. 2017Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Precautions were taken to minimize stress and ensure their well-being throughout the translocation process. — Washington Post, "5 endangered black rhinos relocated from Europe to Rwanda," 25 June 2019 The singer’s father, Joe, died last year and is buried in the same cemetery as his son, but Michael’s 89-year-old mother, five brothers, three sisters and three kids remain alive and well 10 years later . — Katie Campione, The Denver Post, "Tributes to Michael Jackson flow on 10th death anniversary," 25 June 2019 Mulch trees well with compost and apply foliar sprays of seaweed extract at least once a month during the growing season. — The Editors, Good Housekeeping, "How to Grow Fresh Figs Right in Your Backyard," 15 Aug. 2018 Zog The series revolves around Bean (Abbi Jacobson), a gambling, booze-chugging, ne'er-do-well princess from a medieval kingdom called Dreamland. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Disenchantment review: Groening’s new Netflix toon is off to a bloody good start," 7 Aug. 2018 There are plenty of ways to make something well and plenty of ways to make something poorly. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "Redditors Are Competing to Build the Worst Volume Slider," 9 June 2017 Owing to such magic-seeming intercessions, GoFundMe has acquired a wishing-well mystique. — Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, "The Perverse Logic of GoFundMe Health Care," 24 June 2019 C&J Energy Services, which offers a suite of oil and gas production services, and Keane Group, which specializes in well completions will combine in what the companies described as a merger of equals. — Fuel Fix Staff, Houston Chronicle, "C&J Energy, Keane Group to merge if $1.8b deal," 17 June 2019 Before getting started, let tap water soak in your bucket for at least 24 hours to remove any chlorine (skip this step by using rain or well water). — Blair Donovan, Country Living, "How to Make Compost Tea for Your Garden," 29 May 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'well.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Learn More about well
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
Can You 'Feel Good'?
Can You 'Feel Good'?
We certainly hope so.
Yes, 'Welp' Is a Real Word
Yes, 'Welp' Is a Real Word
'Welp' is over 70 years old
Statistics for well
Last Updated
14 Jul 2019
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for well
The first known use of well was before the 12th century
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More Definitions for well
well
noun
English Language Learners Definition of well
(Entry 1 of 5)
well
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of well (Entry 2 of 5)
well
adverbEnglish Language Learners Definition of well (Entry 3 of 5)
well
interjectionEnglish Language Learners Definition of well (Entry 4 of 5)
well
adjectiveEnglish Language Learners Definition of well (Entry 5 of 5)
See the full definition for well in the English Language Learners Dictionary
well
adverb
\
Kids Definition of well
(Entry 1 of 5)
well
interjectionKids Definition of well (Entry 2 of 5)
well
nounKids Definition of well (Entry 3 of 5)
well
adjectiveKids Definition of well (Entry 4 of 5)
well
verbKids Definition of well (Entry 5 of 5)
well
adjective
\
Medical Definition of well
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