Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb To, at, or within a short distance or interval in space or time.
- adverb Just about; almost; nearly.
- adverb With or in a close relationship.
- adjective Close in time, space, position, or degree.
- adjective Closely related by kinship or association; intimate: synonym: close.
- adjective Nearly occurring but not actually happening.
- adjective Just barely avoided.
- adjective Closely corresponding to or resembling an original.
- adjective Closely resembling the genuine article.
- adjective Closer of two or more.
- adjective Being on the left side of an animal or vehicle.
- adjective Being the animal or vehicle on the left.
- adjective Short and direct.
- adjective Archaic Stingy; parsimonious.
- preposition Close to.
- intransitive verb To come close or closer to.
- intransitive verb To draw near or nearer; approach.
from The Century Dictionary.
- A contracted form of
neither . - Being nigh in place; being close by; not distant; adjacent; contiguous.
- Closely allied by blood; closely akin.
- Intimate; united in close ties of affection or confidence; familiar: as, a near friend.
- Affecting one's interest or feelings; touching; coming home to one.
- Close; not deviating from an original or model; observant of the style or manner of the thing copied; literal: as, a near translation.
- So as barely to escape injury, danger, or exposure; close; narrow.
- In riding or driving, on the left: opposed to off; as, the near side; the near fore leg.
- Short; serving to bring the object close.
- Economical; closely calculating; also, close; parsimonious.
- Empty.
- Synonyms Contiguous, proximate, neighboring, imminent, impending, approaching. Nearest, Next are sometimes synonymous words: as, nearest or next of kin; but specially the first denotes the closest relative proximity, while the second denotes the proximate place in order. Compare the nearest house with the next house.
- To come near or nearer; stand near; approach: as, the ship neared the land.
- To come nearer; approach.
- noun See
neer . - Nigher; more nigh; closer: comparative of nigh.
- Hence, without comparative force, and with a new comparative nearer, superlative nearest
- Nigh; close; at, to, or toward a point which is adjacent or not far off: with such verbs as be, come, go, draw, move.
- Nigh, in a figurative sense.
- Nautical, close to the wind: opposed to off.
- Closely; intimately.
- Almost; nearly.
- Into close straits; into a critical position.
- Nigh; close to; close by; at no great distance from.
- Nigh or close to, in a figurative sense.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not far distant in time, place, or degree; not remote; close at hand; adjacent; neighboring; nigh.
- adjective Closely connected or related.
- adjective Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; touching, or affecting intimately; intimate; dear.
- adjective Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.
- adjective So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow{3}.
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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Turkey-Buzzard Tom Bonney -- immediately claimed sanctuary in the jail, on the grounds that they had been near to -- get that; I think that indicates the line they're going to take at the trial -- _near_ to a political assassination.
Lone Star Planet H. Beam Piper 1934
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An 'one chair I did see to: right in the bay, near Jennie, I set 'Leven -- I guess with just a kind of a blind feelin' that I wanted to get her _near_.
Friendship Village Zona Gale 1906
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The world in which people were near -- _near_ -- to one another and loved each other, the world Donal had always belonged to even when he was a little boy, she now knew and lived in.
Robin Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886
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_How should all the apparatus of heaven and earth_, _from the farthest firmament to the tender bosom of the mother who nourished us_, _make poetry for a mind that has no movements of awe and tenderness_, _no sense of fellowship which thrills from the near to the distant, and back again from the distant to the near_?
Uppingham by the Sea a Narrative of the Year at Borth John Huntley Skrine 1885
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Historical Show-man, with such new gifts and arts; a true Magician, who had in his closet a mirror which possessed the property of revealing, not the past nor the present only, but the future, 'with a near aim,' an aim so _near_ that it might well seem 'magical'; and that a cloud was flaming in it, even then, 'which drizzled blood upon the Capitol.'
The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded Delia Bacon 1835
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But he learned them soon; for Solomon immediately dropped down from the big willow and alighted on the bank near Mr. Frog — altogether _too near_ him, in fact, for the tailor’s comfort.
The Tale of Solomon Owl Arthur Scott Bailey 1913
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In the rear stands a mash-tub with a sheepskin stretched over it for a drum, and near it is the drummer-boy, a child of six; a bugle, a cornet and a bassoon are laid in a corner, and two or three boys stand near_.) _Sergeant George_.
Laura Secord, the heroine of 1812. A Drama. and Other Poems. Sarah Anne Curzon 1865
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"Ah! Were you, then, near that brave corps!" exclaimed the other, with something like honest, natural feeling, for the first time exhibited in his voice and meaning; "I honour men who were only _spectators_ of so much courage, especially if they took a tolerably _near_ view of it.
Satanstoe James Fenimore Cooper 1820
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Now put a penny somewhere on the label near the center.
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Grady asked for the same 10-year-sentence Payne had just given Oncale, but the judge imposed a term near the middle of the federal guideline range.
chron.com Chronicle 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word near
"'I am not of a spendthrift nature, Mrs. Cranston, being wholly New England on my father's side and almost wholly Scottish on my mother's. In fact, I am what New Englanders call "near." Schoolboys say "chinchy."'
Mrs. Cranston laughed. 'In Rhode Island we often say "close." I am not ashamed to say that I am fairly "close" in my dealings.'"
--Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder
September 5, 2010