almost
pronunciation
How to pronounce almost in British English:
UK [ˈɔːlməʊst]
How to pronounce almost in American English:
US [ˈɔːlmoʊst]
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- Adverb:
- (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; `near' is sometimes used informally for `nearly' and `most' is sometimes used informally for `almost'
Word Origin
- almost
- almost: [OE] Almost is simply a combination of all and most. In Anglo-Saxon times, and up until the 17th century, it meant ‘mostly all’ or ‘nearly all’ (thus one could say ‘My best friends are almost men’, meaning most of them are men); but already by the 13th century the modern sense ‘nearly, not quite’ was well in place.=> all, most
- almost (adv.)
- Old English eallmæst "nearly all, for the most part," literally "mostly all;" see all + most. Modern form from 15c.
Example
- 1. We were almost at our journey 's end .
- 2. The owners made engineers available at almost no cost .
- 3. I almost missed my train .
- 4. This trade is almost inevitable .
- 5. The roll call took almost 90 minutes .