Link Centre Dictionary

ever

UK/ˈɛvə/ US/ˈɛvɚ/ very common formal informal

adverb

1.

at any time

  • “did you ever smoke?”
  • “the best con man of all time”
Synonyms
2.

at all times; all the time and on every occasion

  • “I will always be there to help you”
  • “always arrives on time”
  • “there is always some pollution in the air”
  • “ever hoping to strike it rich”
  • “ever busy”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

(intensifier for adjectives) very

  • “she was ever so friendly”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English ever, from Old English ǣfre, originally a phrase whose first element undoubtedly consists of Old English ā (“ever, always”) + in (“in”) + an element possibly from feorh (“life, existence”) (dative fēore). Compare Old English ā tō fēore (“ever in life”), Old English feorhlīf (“life”). Sense 5 of the adverb was likely formed by association with never, which also carries the meaning of did not in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English. Also, compare Chinese 有 … 過 /有 … 过 (yǒu ... guò / jau⁵ ... gwo³, “has […] before”).

Phrases

  • as ever
  • as ever trod shoe leather
  • as ever trod shoe-leather
  • ever after
  • ever and again
  • ever and anon
  • ever and ever
  • ever since

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.