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Wiktionary

very

See also: Very

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English verray, from Old French verai (“true”), from Early Medieval Latin vērāgus, from Classical Latin vērāx, derived from vērus, from Proto-Italic *wēros, from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁ros.

Distantly cognate with the Old English wǣr (“true”). Over time displaced the use of a number of Germanic words or prefixes to convey the sense 'very' such as fele, full-, mægen, sore, sin-, swith, (partially) wel.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. (literary) True, real, actual.
    The fierce hatred of a very woman.
    The very blood and bone of our grammar.
    He tried his very best.
    We're approaching the very end of the trip.
    • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      […] I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 27:21:
      And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
    • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:
      The very essence of truth is plainnesse, and brightnes; the darknes and crookednesse is our own.
    • 1659, Henry Hammond, A Paraphrase and Annotations upon All the Books of the New Testament, London: Richard Davis, 2nd edition, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 19, p. 517,[1]
      […] they that think to be wiser then other men, are by so much verier fools then others, and so are discerned to be.
    • 1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension‎[2], London: J. Owen and F. & C. Rivington, page 30:
      I looked on the consideration of publick service, or publick ornament, to be real and very justice: and I ever held, a scanty and penurious justice to partake of the nature of a wrong.
    • 1855, Chambers's Journal, page 257:
      […] : he has become a very democrat. He disdains not to be seen in the back-parlour of the petty tradesman, or the cleanly cottage of the intelligent mechanic. He raises his voice in the cause of progress; […]
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      ‘Thou seest after all I am a very woman.’
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
      Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
    • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎[3]:
      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.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
  3. With limiting effect: mere.
    The very idea of climbing the ladder made me dizzy.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
      We have many examples in our daies, yea in very children, of such as for feare of some slight incommoditie have yeelded unto death.
    • 2004, Paul Campos, The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession with Weight is Hazardous to Your Health, Penguin, →ISBN:
      Given the degree of fear and loathing inspired by the very thought of a fat body in America today, it is important to emphasize that all of the medical information in the counterfactual world I have just sketched is itself quite factual.

Usage notes

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Solombala English: вери (veri)

Translations

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Adverb

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very (not comparable)

  1. To a great extent or degree.
    Synonyms: greatly, drastically, extremely, sorely
    That dress is very you.
    Not very many (of them) had been damaged.
    She's so very similar to her mother.
    ‘Is she busy?’ ― ‘Not very.’
    In the end, the tickets didn't turn out so very expensive.
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
      Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean.
      There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      “ […]  They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.
  2. Conforming to fact, reality or rule; true.
    Synonyms: truly, actually, authentically
  3. (with superlatives) Used to firmly establish that nothing else surpasses in some respect.
    He was the very best runner there.
    This is my very own treehouse.

Usage notes

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  • When used in their senses as degree adverbs, "very" and "too" never modify verbs (except in some dialects influenced by Chinese: see citations).

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Anagrams

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Malagasy

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Adjective

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very

  1. lost
  2. (archaic) enslaved

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old French verai.

Alternative forms

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Adjective

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very (comparative verier)

  1. true
Quotations
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For quotations using this term, see Citations:very.

Adverb

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very

  1. very

Etymology 2

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Verb

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very

  1. Alternative form of ferien
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