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
But Robertson also revived the farm, with Black Angus cattle and breeding ewes roaming the well-tended pastures. — Klara Glowczewska, Town & Country, "We Should All Just Move to New Zealand," 17 Jan. 2019 Hollywood is a tough industry to break into, and Camila Mendes knows this well. — Sara Delgado, Teen Vogue, "Camila Mendes Turned an Internship Into Her Starring "Riverdale" Role," 8 Jan. 2019 They are in fact practiced by mainstream journalists, mobs of the well meaning, and the president of the United States. — Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, "The Death of the Public Square," 6 July 2018 Stephanie Danler adapted her book for the small screen and most of the well observed details of restaurant life in the series are straight from the page, only stripped of context. — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Sweetbitter': TV Review | Tribeca 2018," 27 Apr. 2018 Others are concerned tunneling and station work could damage the temples or drain wells on the temple sites. — Corinne Abrams, WSJ, "‘You Have to Actually Cut Open Mumbai’s Belly’—Inside One of the World’s Most Audacious Transit Projects," 6 Jan. 2019 Secondly, the ship’s long, flat, open cargo well makes an excellent location to park banks of electrical generators that power the railgun. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "China’s Railgun Has Reportedly Gone to Sea," 31 Dec. 2018 That's because from January to April trade winds from the north blow most of the warm surface water out to sea, and colder water wells up from the depths to replace it. — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, "The skulls of ancient pearl divers come with abnormal ear canal bone growths," 28 Dec. 2018 There are several topical creams and treatments, such as low-dose antibiotics, that give some patients relief from their symptoms, though none have ever worked that well for me. — Nadia Berenstein, SELF, "Holiday Parties Bring Out the Worst of My Rosacea," 19 Dec. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
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. 2018 As our line of sight shifted to the point where the small island came between us and the mirage, regret began to well up at the thought of losing that magnificent show. — Longreads, "The Quest for the Collision Zone: An Arctic Expedition," 12 Mar. 2018 The resolve of 2014 welled up in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea and southern Ukraine. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "Winning on NATO," 13 June 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb
Kate Middleton and Prince William visited Dundee, Scotland without their children today, but that didn't stop the Duchess of Cambridge from sharing a sweet update about her youngest son, Prince Louis, with well-wishers. — Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Kate Middleton Gives an Exciting Update About Prince Louis," 29 Jan. 2019 Baby Sussex is due in late April/early May, according to royals reporters who overheard Markle tell this to well-wishers in Birkenhead, England on January 14. — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal Baby: Everything We Know," 24 Jan. 2019 Meghan also hinted at her due date while greeting well-wishers in the crowds. — Maggie Maloney, Town & Country, "Meghan Markle Wore a Gown By Roland Mouret to a Charity Performance of Cirque du Soleil at Royal Albert Hall," 16 Jan. 2019 Oculus released the well-executed but low-stakes Oculus Go mobile headset. — Adi Robertson, The Verge, "The Verge 2018 tech report card: AR and VR," 30 Dec. 2018 The tour lasts anywhere from six to nine hours, depending on your group’s endurance level, and covers well over a dozen eateries. — Ashlea Halpern, Condé Nast Traveler, "Three Days In Istanbul," 28 Dec. 2018 Further Reading The station wagon is alive and well: Driving the Buick Regal TourX On the road, the Terrain rides very nicely. — Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica, "Review: GMC Terrain gives you the ride you want—at a price," 23 Dec. 2018 After three days, more than 100 well-wishers had bid him goodbye. — Bob Brody, WSJ, "Requiem for a Doorman," 16 Dec. 2018 China’s entire nuclear philosophy boils down to this: The country may very well be destroyed by a surprise nuclear attack, but enough Chinese nuclear weapons will survive to make the attack simply not worth it. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Does America Still Need the Nuclear Triad?," 23 Jan. 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
If nothing else, the spirit of DIY and hacking remains alive and well for people to make up their own solutions for the shortcomings of big tech companies. — Dami Lee, The Verge, "The Verge 2018 tech report card: Gadgets," 30 Dec. 2018 After a sharp increase in fuel prices last year, analysts are now turning their attention to how well carriers adjust capacity growth plans and weather the government shutdown. — Andrew Tangel, WSJ, "Delta Expects Shutdown to Hurt Revenue," 15 Jan. 2019 Coulombic efficiency is a measure of how well electrons are transferred through the system. — Megan Geuss, Ars Technica, "Researchers propose a cheap nickel-hydrogen battery for grid storage," 31 Oct. 2018 The state sponsored crash testing in Texas in 2001, to determine how well earth berms of various slopes protect vehicles that go off the road. — David Gutman, The Seattle Times, "Washington state to pay $28 million to woman paralyzed in I-5 crash in Pierce County," 15 Oct. 2018 The leap from prep school to Summer League is not an easy one, and many were curious to see how well Simons would acclimate against the best competition he’s seen in his life. — Jeremy Woo, SI.com, "Rookie Report Cards: The Most Noteworthy Summer League Showings," 11 July 2018 Duke David Cutcliffe has a team more than capable of getting back into bowl play and even finishing third in the crowded Coastal, though the Blue Devils’ chances hinges on how well quarterback Daniel Jones fares as a junior. — Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, "ACC power rankings: Clemson leads the way," 25 June 2018 Recent academic research has focused on how well peacekeepers do at reducing conflicts’ virulence and spread. — Brandon Prins, Washington Post, "Armed peacekeepers really do protect civilians — with one big exception," 14 June 2018 The highest risk would be well water that has not been tested, especially if there's industrial dumping or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) going on near your home. — Rachael Moeller Gorman, Good Housekeeping, "Is Your Tap Water Safe?," 15 Aug. 2012These 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
10 Feb 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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