Nearly

Nearly is an adverb meaning almost or not quite, used to express that something is close to a specified limit, degree, or outcome but has not fully been reached. It typically modifies adjectives, participles, other adverbs, or phrases that indicate quantity, time, or extent.

It commonly appears immediately before the word it modifies: nearly finished, nearly asleep, nearly twice as tall, nearly three hundred people, nearly every day, nearly all of them. It can also modify phrases such as nearly everywhere and nearly enough.

The distinction between nearly and almost is subtle and context-dependent. In many contexts they are interchangeable, but nearly can imply a closer approach to a threshold and is often used with precise quantities or more formal contexts, while almost is more common in everyday speech. Nearly can also intensify adverbial phrases, as in nearly always or nearly simultaneously, and it can appear in comparisons such as nearly as tall as.

Etymology and related notes: the word derives from near with the adverbial suffix -ly, from Old English neār. The form appears in Middle English. Related phrases include nearly always, nearly there, nearly as…, and nearly all.