almost

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• aulmos (Jamaican English)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English eallmǣst (“nearly all, almost, for the most part”), equivalent to all- +‎ most.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɔːl.ˈməʊst/, /ˈɔːl.məʊst/, X-SAMPA: /"O:l.m@Ust/, /O:l"m@Ust/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɔl.moʊst/, /ˈɑɫ.moʊst/, X-SAMPA: /"Ol.moUst/

• Audio (US-Inland North)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧most

Adverb

almost (not comparable)

1. Very close to, but not quite.
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19: 

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

   Almost all people went there. - Not all but very close to it.

   We almost missed the train. - Not missed but very close to it.

Synonyms

• (very close to, but not quite): nearly, nigh, well-nigh, near, close to, next to, practically, virtually

Translations

very close to

• Ainu: ナアニ (naani), ナアニフンコ (naanihunko), ナアニポ (naanipo)
• Arabic: تقريبًا (ar) (taqrīban)
• Aragonese: quasi (an)
• Armenian: համարյա (hy) (hamarya), գրեթե (hy) (gret'e)
• Asturian: cuasi (ast), casi (ast)
• Azeri: az qala (az), az qaldı (az)
• Belarusian: амаль (be) (amálʹ)
• Breton: hogos, hogozik
• Bulgarian: почти (bg) (počtí)
• Catalan: gairebé (ca), quasi (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幾乎 (cmn), 几乎 (cmn) (jīhū), 差點 (cmn), 差点 (cmn) (chàdiǎn), 差一點 (cmn), 差一点 (cmn) (chāyīdiǎn), 差不多 (cmn) (chàbuduō)

• Czech: skoro (cs), téměř (cs)
• Danish: næsten (da)
• Dutch: bijna (nl), nagenoeg (nl), vrijwel (nl), zo goed als (nl)
• Esperanto: preskaŭ (eo)
• Estonian: peaaegu (et)
• Faroese: næstan (fo)
• Finnish: lähes (fi), melkein (fi), miltei (fi), liki (fi)
• French: presque (fr)
• Galician: case (gl)
• Georgian: თითქმის (ka) (t’it’k’mis)
• German: fast (de), beinahe (de), so gut wie (de)
• Greek: σχεδόν (el) (schedón)
• Hebrew: כִּמְעַט (he) (kim'át)
• Hindi: लगभग (hi) (lagabhag)
• Hungarian: majdnem (hu)
• Ido: preske (io)
• Indonesian: hampir, nyaris
• Irish: beagnach (ga)
• Italian: quasi (it)
• Jamaican Creole: aalmos

• Japanese: ほとんど (ja) (hotondo)
• Kazakh: дерлік (kk) (derlik)
• Khmer: ជិត (km) (cɨt), ស្ទើរតែ (km) (stǝǝ tae)
• Korean: 거의 (ko) (geoui)
• Macedonian: речиси (mk) (réčisi), скоро (mk) (skóro)
• Latgalian: kuoni, gondreiž
• Latin: paene (la), fere (la)
• Latvian: gandrīz (lv)
• Lithuanian: beveik (lt)
• Maltese: kważi (mt)
• Mirandese: quaije
• Navajo: kʼasdą́ą́
• Norwegian: nesten (no)
• Occitan: gaireben (oc), quasi (oc), quasiben (oc), quasiment (oc)
• Persian: تقریباً (fa) (taqriban)
• Polish: prawie (pl)
• Portuguese: quase (pt)
• Romanian: aproape (ro)
• Russian: почти (ru) (počtí)
• Scots: awmaist, amaist
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скоро (sh)

  Roman: skoro (sh)

• Slovak: skoro (sk), takmer (sk)
• Slovene: skôraj (sl)
• Spanish: casi (es)
• Swedish: nästan (sv)
• Telugu: దాదాపు (te) (dādāpu), దరిదాపు (te) (daridāpu)
• Thai: เกือบจะ (th) (gèuap jà)
• Tok Pisin: klosap
• Turkish: neredeyse (tr)
• Ukrainian: майже (uk) (májže), сливе (uk) (slyvé)
• Vietnamese: gần (vi), gần như (vi)
• West Frisian: hast (fy)

• Arabic: شَبَه (ar) (šabhu)

Noun

almost (plural almosts)

1. (informal) Something or someone that doesn't quite make it.

   In all the submissions, they found four papers that were clearly worth publishing and another dozen almosts.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: gave · asked · soon · #216: almost · thou · full · country

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