Link Centre Dictionary

very

UK/ˈvɛɾe/ US/ˈvɛɹi/ very common literary
adverb (2) adjective (4)

adverb

1.

used as intensifiers

  • “real”
  • “really”
  • “rattling”
  • “she was very gifted”
  • “he played very well”
  • “a really enjoyable evening”
  • “I”
  • “;”
Synonyms
2.

precisely so

  • “on the very next page”
  • “he expected the very opposite”

adjective

1.

precisely as stated

  • “the very center of town”
Similar
2.

being the exact same one; not any other:

  • “this is the identical room we stayed in before”
  • “the themes of his stories are one and the same”
  • “saw the selfsame quotation in two newspapers”
  • “on this very spot”
  • “the very thing he said yesterday”
  • “the very man I want to see”
Synonyms
Similar
3.

used to give emphasis to the relevance of the thing modified

  • “his very name struck terror”
  • “caught in the very act”
Similar
4.

used to give emphasis

  • “the very essence of artistic expression is invention” Irving R. Kaufman
  • “the very back of the room”
Similar

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • all very well
  • at the very least
  • at the very most
  • at very least
  • for very shame's sake
  • fuck you very much
  • how very dare you
  • in very deed
  • my very easy method just speeds up naming planets
  • my very educated mother just served us nachos
  • my very educated mother just served us nine pizzas
  • my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins

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.