| Library / English Dictionary |
VERY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Precisely as stated
Example:
the very center of town
Classified under:
Similar:
precise (sharply exact or accurate or delimited)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Being the exact same one; not any other:
Example:
the very man I want to see
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
same (same in identity)
II. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Used as intensifiers; 'real' is sometimes used informally for 'really'; 'rattling' is informal
Example:
a rattling good yarn
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
Precisely so
Example:
he expected the very opposite
Classified under:
Context examples:
Mother says he's very nice, though he never speaks to us girls.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
He was lying very much as we had left him, only a little higher, and he seemed both weak and excited.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I understand it was a very handsome letter, indeed.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
A very rare adenocarcinoma that arises from the ampulla of Vater.
(Ampulla of Vater Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)
The dog liked this plan very well; and accordingly so it was managed.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him, even at that distance, went somehow strongly against the watcher’s inclination.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Mars will often find you at one end of the spectrum or the other—very happy or not happy with a partner in one area of your life.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
I really would do my very best.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When he was very near I heard him crying, in vexed fashion, “Why in hell don’t you sing out?”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Then he laid me down, and addressing Bessie, charged her to be very careful that I was not disturbed during the night.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
