very

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1. The uses of very and much as intensifying adverbs are for the most part complementary. Very qualifies adjectives and adverbs (very large / very slowly), whereas much qualifies past participles that are used as adjectives (a much enlarged edition / They were much criticized). There is a grey area including words that are strictly speaking past participles but have come to be treated as full adjectives, notably words of feeling such as annoyed, pleased, tired, worried, etc., and words with a strong adjectival element such as sheltered (a very sheltered upbringing) and involved (He is very involved in charitable work). These are now more naturally qualified by very than by much. When the verb element is uppermost, much is preferred; we would for example speak of a much honoured dignitary rather than a very honoured one, and we would say that alternatives are not much differentiated in preference to not very differentiated. At the heart of this grey area lie words such as respected, in which the adjective and verb emphasis is infinitely variable: if we say a much respected politician we stress the process, whereas if we say a very respected politician we assess the effect.

2. It is worth adding that much can itself be qualified by very; consequently any of the words we have been reviewing that can be intensified by much can be more strongly intensified by very much (e.g. very much criticized / very much enlarged).

3. Some types of participial adjective are conventionally qualified by intensifying words other than much and very, e.g. injured (and similar words such as burnt, scarred, etc.) is qualified by badly or seriously, bungled by badly or severely, and outnumbered, outvoted, etc. by heavily.

4. In a recent development, very is used to qualify nouns that have assumed the role of adjectives: for example, a song might be called very sixties (characteristic of the 1960s), and a building might be called very art deco (built in that style).

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adverb

To a high degree: awfully, dreadfully, eminently, exceedingly, exceptionally, extra, extremely, greatly, highly, most, notably. Informal awful. Chiefly Regional mighty. See big/small/amount.

adjective

1. Being one and not another or others; not different in nature or identity: identic, identical, same, selfsame. See same/different/compare.
2. Strictly distinguished from others: exact, precise. See precise/imprecise.
3. Considered apart from anything else: mere. See include/exclude, specific/general.

Idioms beginning with very:
very thing, the

See also all very well; what's the (the very) idea.

adj

Definition: much
Antonyms: little

adj

Definition: real, exact
Antonyms: inexact

adv

Definition: much, really; to a high degree
Antonyms: little

IN BRIEF: A word used to emphasize something.

A joke is a very serious thing.

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as in: really
sign description: The forefinger starts at the chin and moves up and out.

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For a list of words related to very, see:

• Emphasizers
• Maximizers and Superlatives

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See words rhyming with "veriest."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Very .

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of very

• vrey
• vyer
• vyre
• veyr

Dansk (Danish)
adv. - meget, aller-
adj. - lutter, ren og skær, sand

idioms:

• cannot very well    kan ikke særligt godt
• not very    ikke særligt, ikke meget
• the very best    den allerbedste
• very good    meget godt
• very much    meget
• very much so    i dén grad, i høj grad
• very well    nuvel

Nederlands (Dutch)
heel, echte, duidelijk, precies (passend), erg, aller-, bijster, zuiver, alleen, zelfde

Français (French)
adv. - très, vraiment, comme, fort, le tout, exactement, même
adj. - même, exactement, tout, seul, quel (excl)

idioms:

• cannot very well    ne peut pas vraiment
• not very    pas beaucoup, pas vraiment
• the very best    de loin le meilleur
• very good    très bien
• very much    beaucoup
• very much so    vraiment beaucoup
• very well    très bien

Deutsch (German)
adv. - sehr, aller-
adj. - genau, ganz, bloß, rein, wahr

idioms:

• cannot very well    kann nicht sehr gut
• not very    nicht sehr
• the very best    der Beste
• very good    sehr wohl, sehr gut
• very much    sehr viel
• very much so    ja, sehr
• very well    also gut

Ελληνική (Greek)
adv. - πολύ, ακριβώς
adj. - αυτός ο ίδιος, ακριβώς

idioms:

• cannot very well    δεν θα ήταν σωστό
• not very    όχι και πολύ
• the very best    το καλύτερο που υπάρχει
• very good    πολύ καλός, πολύ καλά!, έστω! ας γίνει κι έτσι!
• very much    πάρα πολύ
• very much so    απολύτως έτσι
• very well    πολύ καλά

Italiano (Italian)
molto

idioms:

• cannot very well    non potere esattamente
• not very    non troppo
• the very best    il meglio
• very good    ottimo
• very much    moltissimo
• very much so    proprio così
• very well    molto bene, benissimo

Português (Portuguese)
adv. - muito, em alto grau
adj. - verdadeiro, genuíno, exato, próprio, mero

idioms:

• cannot very well    não poder realmente
• not very    não muito
• the very best    o melhor mesmo
• very good    muito bom
• very much    muito
• very much so    muito mesmo
• very well    muito bem

Русский (Russian)
настоящий, полный, самый, очень, значительно

idioms:

• cannot very well    не иметь морального права
• not very    не совсем
• the very best    самый лучший
• very good    очень хорошо
• very much    очень
• very much so    очень даже, безусловно
• very well    очень хорошо

Español (Spanish)
adv. - mucho, muy, sumamente, de veras, en efecto
adj. - mismo, idéntico, verdadero, exacto, absoluto, puro

idioms:

• cannot very well    no estaría bien
• not very    no mucho
• the very best    el mejor
• very good    muy bueno, muy bien
• very much    mucho, muchísimo
• very much so    muchísimo
• very well    muy bien, está bien

Svenska (Swedish)
adv. - mycket, allra, absolut, blotta
adj. - riktig, ren, själva, just

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
很, 及其, 甚, 真正的, 恰好的, 真实的

idioms:

• cannot very well    表婉转地拒绝, 不好做某事
• not very    不大, 稍微, 决不, 并非
• the very best    上上选, 最好的
• very good    很好
• very much    很多
• very much so    的确如此
• very well    那好吧, 用以表同意但带有勉强之意

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adv. - 很, 及其, 甚
adj. - 真正的, 恰好的, 真實的

idioms:

• cannot very well    表婉轉地拒絕, 不好做某事
• not very    不大, 稍微, 決不, 並非
• the very best    上上選, 最好的
• very good    很好
• very much    很多
• very much so    的確如此
• very well    那好吧, 用以表同意但帶有勉強之意

한국어 (Korean)
adv. - 대단히, 매우, (부정문에서) 그다지
adj. - 바로 ~의, 참된, ~까지도

idioms:

• the very best    최상, 최고

日本語 (Japanese)
adv. - 非常に, とても, あまり, 全く, まさに
adj. - ちょうどその, ただ…だけで, …でさえ

idioms:

• all very well    申し分ない, りっぱな
• at the very least    少なくとも
• cannot very well    ～のわけにもいかない
• not very    あまり…でなく
• the very best    最上
• very good    結構です
• very much    とても
• very much so    まさにそのとおり
• very well    確実に, よろしい

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(ظرف) بالفعل, جدا, كثيرا, للغايه (صفه) بالضبط‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adv. - ‮מאוד, ביותר, ממש, במלוא מובן המילה‬
adj. - ‮אמיתי, ממשי, גמור, מוחלט, קיצוני, הוא ולא אחר, הוא עצמו‬

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