very

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English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

From Middle English verray, verrai (“true”), from Old French verai (“true”) (Modern French: vrai), from assumed Vulgar Latin *vērācus, alteration of Latin vērāx (“truthful”), from Latin vērus (“true”), from Proto-Indo-European *wēr- (“true, benevolent”). Cognate with Old English wǣr (“true, correct”), Dutch waar (“true”), German wahr (“true”), Icelandic alvöru (“earnest”). Displaced native Middle English sore, sār (“very”) (from Old English sār (“grievous, extreme”) (Cf. German: sehr, Dutch: zeer), Middle English wel (“very”) (from Old English wel (“well, very”)). More at warlock.

Pronunciation [edit]

Adjective [edit]

very (not generally comparable; comparative verier, superlative veriest)

  1. True, real, actual
    The fierce hatred of a very woman.
    The very blood and bone of our grammar.
    He tried his very best.
    • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, New York Times:
      The country’s first black president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr. Obama seemed like a digital-age leader who could at last dislodge the stalemate between those who clung to the government of the Great Society, on the one hand, and those who disdained the very idea of government, on the other.
  2. The same; identical.
    He proposed marriage in the same restaurant, at the very table where they first met.
    That's the very tool that I need.
  3. With limiting effect: mere.
    • 1603, John Florio, trans. Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.40:
      We have many examples in our daies, yea in very children, of such as for feare of some slight incommoditie have yeelded unto death.

Translations [edit]

the same; identical

Adverb [edit]

very (not comparable)

  1. to a great extent or degree; extremely; exceedingly
    You’re very tall.
  2. true, truly
    He was the very best runner there.

Usage notes [edit]

  • When used in their senses as degree adverbs, "very" and "too" never modify verbs.

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

to a high degree
true, truly
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Statistics [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

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