Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb At all times; always.
- adverb At any time.
- adverb In any way; at all.
- adverb To a great extent or degree. Used for emphasis, often with so.
- idiom (again/anon) Now and then; occasionally.
- idiom (for ever and a day) Always; forever.
from The Century Dictionary.
- At all times; always; continually.
- At any time; at any period or point of time, past or future: in negative, interrogative, or comparative sentences: as, no man is ever the happier for injustice; did you ever see anything like it? I do not think I ever did.
- In any degree; any; at all: usually in connection with an adverb or adjective in the comparative degree, and after a negative.
- To any possible degree; in any possible case: with as: a word of enforcement or emphasis: as, as soon as ever he had done it.
- For all time; to the end of life.
- Continually; incessantly; without intermission: as, he is for ever in the way; she is for ever singing, from morning to night.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb At any time; at any period or point of time.
- adverb At all times; through all time; always; forever.
- adverb Without cessation; continually.
- adverb now and then; often. See under
Anon . - adverb [Obs.] continually; constantly.
- adverb in whatever degree; to whatever extent; -- used to intensify indefinitely the meaning of the associated adjective or adverb. See Never so, under
Never . - adverb eternally. See
Forever . - adverb emphatically forever.
- adverb [Archaic] before. See
Or ,ere .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb Always
- adverb At any time.
- adverb In any way
- adverb informal As intensifier.
- adjective epidemiology Occurring at any time, occurring even but once during a timespan.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb at all times; all the time and on every occasion
- adverb at any time
- adverb (intensifier for adjectives) very
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Which means I am never, ever, *ever* going to find one.
APED: "ch-ch-ch-ch, ho-ho-ho-ho" hradzka 2009
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And no one ever, *ever* buys candy corn for themselves.
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This is a serious problem for the boy scouts and even the girl scouts have very strict rules about children ever *ever* being alone with only one adult and they have a right to enforce as best they can an environment where it is *very* clear that sexual activity between boys or between scout leaders and boys is not in any way acceptable.
"I've been fascinated... with the attention paid to me by people who really have not undertaken to understand how I succeed, how I define my success." Ann Althouse 2008
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But if there was ever *ever* the merest suggestion that my child's citizenship was affected by the fact that his parents were active duty military stationed overseas it would have been *decided* or the military wouldn't so much as function.
Who will determine whether John McCain is a "natural-born citizen," qualified for the presidency? Ann Althouse 2008
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But my real point is that nobody ever, *ever* has any actual evidence.
A Bit of GOOD News ... Steve Hulett 2008
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A comic that no one has ever asked for ever** is listed in Overstreet, while a comic by an acclaimed, award-winning cartoonist is not.
Archive 2005-01-23 2005
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A comic that no one has ever asked for ever** is listed in Overstreet, while a comic by an acclaimed, award-winning cartoonist is not.
Archive 2005-01-23 2005
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They didn't want her to grow up, or have friends, or ever _ever_ have a boyfriend.
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I found my voice as she tucked me into the front seat of a dilapidated sedan, and I said it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen, _ever_.
Working Murder Boylan, Eleanor 1989
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Lord's Prayer is marked for praise by a Termination, viz. _for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever_.
The Prayer Book Explained Percival Jackson
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