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 deepest new well is 138 feet, but most are about 50-100 feet deep. — Jesse Leavenworth, Courant Community, "Work At Manchester Dump Meant To Curb Stink," 11 May 2018 Source: WalletHub One category in which California didn't score well was variety of arts, entertainment and recreation establishments. — Noel Harris, sacbee, "You don't have to leave California to have fun – and there's data to back that up | The Sacramento Bee," 6 May 2018 Photo: Erika Balza The Balzas drilled a new well with state help. — Jesse Newman And Patrick Mcgroarty, WSJ, "Farms, More Productive Than Ever, Are Poisoning Drinking Water in Rural America," 18 Jan. 2019 The classic example is a baby falling down a well or a disaster or something like that. — Eric Johnson, Recode, "The media is responsible for President Trump and it still hasn’t learned from 2016, says Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi," 18 Oct. 2018 The infant’s body was found by a relative in a well behind his home on Sunday, a day after he was taken, according to the BBC. — Fox News, "'Baby snatcher' monkey hunted after infant found dead in well," 2 Oct. 2018 Shi Huang's secret remained just that until 1974, when three local farmers were digging a well and came across stone body parts. — Hanya Yanagihara, Condé Nast Traveler, "50 Things to Do in Asia Before You Die," 24 Sep. 2018 There will be a deep well of popular anger to exploit for a politician who can frame themself as the defender of the will of the people. — The Economist, "Donald Trump lays into Britain’s Brexit plan," 13 July 2018 Work will start soon on an $8 million project to drill a new well to increase the water supply for the town of Plymouth. — Johanna Seltz, BostonGlobe.com, "Plymouth to increase water supply with new well," 12 July 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
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. 2018 McCarthy said, before stopping mid-sentence and looking away for more than 30 seconds as tears welled up in his eyes. — Bill Ruthhart, chicagotribune.com, "McCarthy talks Emanuel challenge with Tribune: I want to save ‘a great American city’," 21 Mar. 2018 Immediately, the miniseries gets this story underway as tiny rabbit Fiver (Nicholas Hoult) has a prophetic vision of rabbits being chopped in half by bulldozers and fields welling with blood, bringing to mind the elevator in The Shining. — Aja Romano, Vox, "Netflix’s new Watership Down proves the beloved children’s classic was a horror story all along," 30 Dec. 2018 The idea is to work the lyrics out of you like an emotion welling up in the heart, like a situation that needs fixing, like a journey with oppression on the back end and hope on the front end. — Tyrone Beason / Columnist, The Seattle Times, "Total Experience Gospel Choir’s last days: Pat Wright built legacy with gusto of a freedom fighter," 1 Oct. 2018 Researchers believe the cyclones that the spacecraft spotted are the result of ammonia welling up from deep within the planet, creating turbulent weather even far below the upper atmosphere. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "The Juno Spacecraft Reveals New Mysteries at Jupiter," 25 May 2017 As millions of people watched on live TV, the 33-year-old royal welled up just as the former Suits actress, 36, joined him at the altar, and he was seen wiping away the touching tears. — Nick Maslow, PEOPLE.com, "Prince Harry Bit His Lip at His Wedding to Meghan Markle — and the Internet Is Hilariously 'Mad'," 21 May 2018 Every now and then, a moment will arise where the enormity of it all sits on my shoulders and then wells up inside. — Christopher Wallenberg, BostonGlobe.com, "On Broadway, feeling love for Donna Summer," 19 Apr. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb
That model will return, and there will be an SQ8 TDI as well. — Jens Meiners, Car and Driver, "Volvo to Start Using Electrically Driven Superchargers," 17 May 2019 While the Baltimore asset manager would do well to listen to some of his advice, turning around its fortunes once again will take even bolder action this time around. — Aaron Back, WSJ, "Legg Mason Needs Activist Help, Again," 16 May 2019 While it hasn't been tested on humans yet, the hydrogel adhesive has done phenomenally well in testing on pig hearts, which share many similarities with human hearts, like two atriums and two ventricles. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "New Bio Glue Stops Post-Traumatic Bleeding in Its Tracks," 14 May 2019 Big Little Lies stars Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoe Kravitz as a group of well-to-do California moms who have dark and twisty secrets. — Kayleigh Roberts, Marie Claire, "You Can Stream 'Big Little Lies' Free on YouTube This Weekend, Even If You Don't Have HBO," 12 May 2019 While socio-economic status is definitely a big part of what makes a place a food desert to begin with, there are other factors that go into it as well. — Jessica Booth, Redbook, "Everything You Need To Know About Food Deserts," 29 Apr. 2019 Even without the help of Kylie Jenner, Jordyn is still doing very well for herself thanks to her many partnerships and jobs, and her net worth reflects that. — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, "Jordyn Woods' Net Worth is Still Insane Even Without Kylie Jenner's Support," 3 Apr. 2019 The organization was curious about whether cash transfers — literally giving people who just suffered through a disaster cash — worked well for disaster relief. — Kelsey Piper, Vox, "Why disaster relief is so hard," 25 Mar. 2019 Food deserts have a particularly negative affect on children as well, who need to have a healthy diet in the first few years of their life in order to develop properly. — Jessica Booth, Redbook, "Everything You Need To Know About Food Deserts," 29 Apr. 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
Another study, this one published in 1999 in Dermatology, compared how well participants could tolerate retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid over 44 weeks. — Sarah Jacoby, SELF, "Can People With Sensitive Skin Be in the Retinol Club, Too?," 30 Apr. 2019 According to numbers compiled by ESPN.com, Milwaukee was 10th in per-game attendance last year, too, and 16th in 2016 and 13th in 2015 – both years when the team was well out of contention. — Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Attendance is way down at Major League Baseball games – but not in Milwaukee," 18 June 2018 Of course that was well before Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. — James Freeman, WSJ, "Tom and Jerry and Khamenei," 24 May 2018 If playwrights and moviemakers can provide answers, then thank goodness, because the world knows all too well that reality, unlike fiction, can bite. — Bethany Mclean, Town & Country, "This New Play The Lehman Trilogy Turns the Financial Crisis Into High Art," 29 Mar. 2019 While the series was well-received and quickly earned a second-season renewal, the production fell apart shortly thereafter. — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "American Gods season 2 finally has a release date," 5 Dec. 2018 There was obvious incentive for both player and team to get a deal done here after how well things went for Redick and the Sixers last season. — Jeremy Woo, SI.com, "Grades: Sharpshooter J.J. Redick Returns to the Rising Sixers," 2 July 2018 Total sticker price for our well-equipped and luxurious four-wheel-drive QX80 was $84,660, including freight. — star-telegram, "Infiniti QX80 full-size luxury SUV brings elegance, technology to the family hauler," 30 June 2018 Before deleting his Instagram page, Pete posted a note that shocked fans and had others worrying about his well being. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "Ariana Grande Tried to Check In With Pete Davidson After He Posts Alarming Note on Instagram," 17 Dec. 2018These 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
19 May 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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