very
adverbadjectivetop 1 000 in film dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈvɛɹi//
- Australia//ˈveɹi//
- Scotland//ˈvɛɾe//
To a great extent or degree.
adverb
- 1
To a great extent or degree.
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.’
- 2
Conforming to fact, reality or rule; true.
- 3
Used to firmly establish that nothing else surpasses in some respect.
He was the very best runner there.
This is my very own treehouse.
Etymology
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 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-, mæġen, sore, sin-, swīþe, (partially) wel.
adjective
- 1
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.
- 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.
The very man I wanted to see!
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 brings me out in a sweat.
The very idea/thought!
We have many examples in our daies, yea in very children, of such as for feare of some slight incommoditie have yeelded unto death.
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.
Forms
- comparative
- verier
- superlative
- veriest