Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb In actual truth or fact.
- adverb To a great degree; very much.
- adverb Very; utterly.
- adverb Without a doubt; indeed.
- interjection Used to express surprise, skepticism, displeasure, or interest.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Royally; in a royal or regal manner; like a king.
- in a real manner; with or in reality; in fact, and not in appearance only; in truth; actually; truly.
- Indeed; to tell the truth; as a fact: often used as a slight corroboration of an opinion or declaration, or interrogatively or exclamatorily to express slight surprise.
- Synonyms Truly, absolutely, certainly, verily, positively.
- To form or arrange again; recompose.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb obsolete Royally.
- adverb In a real manner; with or in reality; actually; in truth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb modal Actually; in fact; in reality.
- adverb informal, as an intensifier Very (modifying an adjective); very much (modifying a verb).
- interjection Indicating
surprise at, or requesting confirmation of, some new information; to expressskepticism . - interjection colloquial, sarcastic Indicating that what was just said was
obvious andunnecessary ; contrivedincredulity - interjection colloquial Indicating affirmation, agreement.
- interjection Indicating
displeasure at another person'sbehaviour orstatement .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb in actual fact
- adverb in accordance with truth or fact or reality
- adverb in fact (used as intensifiers or sentence modifiers)
- adverb used as intensifiers; `real' is sometimes used informally for `really'; `rattling' is informal
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I think you really need to ponder how much of your reaction is based off of what is _really_ there and how much is off inference, based on conjecture that is heavily drawn from someone elses biases and hangups and both bolstered and watered down by anything as murky and prone to misunderstanding as the written word.
The Lensman's Children Fred Kiesche 2010
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ANG itz funny thought i was the only one that noticed that Transformers 2 didnt really have a sensible plot ...everyone seemed to love it ....well audience members ..really good to come on here and see my fellow film geeks call it out like it izzz !
Transformers 3 Update: Shoot Date, Script and 3D Status | /Film 2010
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Thank ghod it's not really a mainstream news organization, or the markets would *really* tank.
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I think you really need to ponder how much of your reaction is based off of what is _really_ there and how much is off inference, based on conjecture that is heavily drawn from someone elses biases and hangups and both bolstered and watered down by anything as murky and prone to misunderstanding as the written word.
The Lensman's Children Fred Kiesche 2010
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Sounds as if the really right-wing nuts are looking at him as preventing their ability to * really* go after Obama --- wishes that Barracuda Sarah were at the top of the ticket and able to really take up the fight, no holes barred!
Note To News Orgs: McCain And Palin Are Largely Responsible For Unhinged Tone At Their Rallies 2009
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We had been friends since her sons were little guys, long before she and I morphed from really, really hot (okay, maybe just one \ "really\") into women of the vintage marketers target when they\'re hawking hundred dollar face creams.
Marcella Mroczkowski: The GOP, Hooked on Hate: Three Traits All Toxic Political Movements Share 2009
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This headline really, * really* needs to be changed.
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We had been friends since her sons were little guys, long before she and I morphed from really, really hot (okay, maybe just one \ "really\") into women of the vintage marketers target when they\'re hawking hundred dollar face creams.
Marcella Mroczkowski: The GOP, Hooked on Hate: Three Traits All Toxic Political Movements Share 2009
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For the folks who are * really, really* afraid - as in elderly and retired - of the economic fallout that is sure to come, this taps into their cold war responses.
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All the GOP crap like these makes me * really, really, really* want this election to be over today (by destroying them to pieces, of course).
seanahan commented on the word really
Really? Really, you listed this as a word, really?
September 9, 2007
reesetee commented on the word really
Really. *arched eyebrow*
September 9, 2007
oroboros commented on the word really
Well, I rilly rilly like it! :oP
September 9, 2007
kalli commented on the word really
Thing is, Really isn't so terrible. Really quite useful sometimes but so often really abused. I even do it myself sometimes. For shame.
October 31, 2007
uselessness commented on the word really
Do you really? ;-)
October 31, 2007
pterodactyl commented on the word really
See this map for American pronunciation.
April 11, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word really
I have really rather a tendency to overuse this word -- not so much as an intensifier really than as an offset for the parts of my sentences.
March 19, 2009