ADVERB
-
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
the job is (just) about done
I was near exhausted by the run
virtually all the parties signed the contract
most everyone agrees
we're almost finished
the car all but ran her down
talked for nigh onto 2 hours
the recording is well-nigh perfect
he nearly fainted
the baby was almost asleep when the alarm sounded
How To Use well-nigh In A Sentence
- So the headsmen put his hand to her back, to take her; but the King cried out at him and cast at him somewhat he hent in hand, which had well-nigh killed him, saying, O dog, how durst thou show ruth to those with whom I am wroth? The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night
- But the city folk constituted a new and terrible destructive force, the equilibrium was overthrown, and the poppies well-nigh perished. The Golden Poppy
- In this he was partially blocked, but a dozen of the ` Frisco Reds were executed, and the group was well-nigh destroyed. Chapter 19: Transformation
- It will be well-nigh impossible to raise that amount of money.
- With no help, finishing the job in a day was well-nigh impossible.
- Formerly all tenants had some capital, and often considerable; but absentee landlordism, rising rack-rent, and failing cotton have stripped them well-nigh of all, and probably not over half of them to-day own their mules. The Souls of Black Folk
- And I — what would I not have given for a bit of friendly wilderness, where, unseen, I might vent my joy in some mad freak, such as idiotically biting my hand; turning a somersault, or slashing at trees, in order to allay those exciting feelings that were well-nigh uncontrollable. How I Found Livingstone
- A night of calm, when sleep is well-nigh impossible in the sultry, muggy air, may be followed by a day of blazing sun and an oily swell from the south'ard, connoting great gales in that area of ocean we are sailing toward -- or all day long the Elsinore, under an overcast sky, royals and sky sails furled, may plunge and buck under wind-pressure into a short and choppy head-sea. CHAPTER XXVII
- To understand what other creatures perceive we have to do the well-nigh impossible.
- Eventually, without losing a single man, this unit of the Royal Navy systematically destroyed all French fortifications, more than one hundred heavy cannon, stretching about seventy miles from San Sebastián to Santander (except for the well-nigh impregnable Castro-Urdiales). Archive 2009-03-01
