What is well-nigh?

  • (adv): (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'.
    Example: "The recording is well-nigh perfect"
    Synonyms: about, just about, almost, most, all but, nearly, near, nigh, virtually

Famous quotes containing the word well-nigh:

    “‘Twas a balmy summer evening, and a goodly crowd was there.
    Which well-nigh filled Joe’s barroom on the corner of the square,”
    —Hugh Antoine D’Arcy (1843–1925)

    “The twentieth year is well-nigh past;
    Since first our sky was overcast,
    Ah would that this might be the last!
    My Mary!
    Thy spirits have a fainter flow,
    I see thee daily weaker grow—
    ‘Twas my distress that brought thee low,
    My Mary!
    Thy needles, once a shining store,
    For my sake restless heretofore,
    Now rust disus’d, and shine no more,
    My Mary!”
    —William Cowper (1731–1800)

    “And lending it one mental fillip the more, the fact that all these people were inwardly attacked by well-nigh resistless decay, and that most of them were feverish.”
    —Thomas Mann (1875–1955)