almost
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
How often you will meet it
Rank 241 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 92,291 times across 175,173 chapters — 0.044% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adverb
- (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but also: about, most, nearly, near, nigh, virtually the job is (just) about donethe baby was almost asleep when the alarm sounded
almost in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Miss Howard shook hands with a hearty, almost painful, grip.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles · Agatha Christie · Chapter 1
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Poor Xury, almost dead with fear, entreated me not to go on shore that night.
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures · Daniel Defoe · Chapter 1
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The crew captain and the foot-ball captain are almost inevitably taken for Skull and Bones.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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He spoke very slowly, and the words seemed wrung out of him almost against his will.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1
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And yet these northern women worked on, year after year, unselfishly, with a heroism which amounted almost to martyrdom.
The Red Record Tabulated Statistics · Ida B. Wells-Barnett · Chapter 1