1
: in a close manner or relationship
nearly related
2
a
: almost but not quite
nearly identical
nearly a year later
b
: to the least extent
not nearly as good as we expected
Examples of nearly in a Sentence
I see her nearly every day.
We lived there for nearly two years.
Nearly all of us got sick that weekend.
Recent Examples on the Web
The clip garnered nearly 7 million views on TikTok.
—
Sam Jane, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2026
The New Year's flood of '97 killed three people and caused nearly $2 billion in damages.
—Kayla Moeller, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026
In December, Doubao was China's top AI app with 155 million weekly active users, nearly double that of its closest competitor, DeepSeek's chatbot, according to business intelligence service provider QuestMobile.
—Elaine Yu, CNBC, 2 Jan. 2026
The scandals go back nearly a decade and include allegations of fraud in the Somali community focused on Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit prosecutors said falsely claimed to provide meals to needy children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN Money, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for nearly
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Sam Jane, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2026
The New Year's flood of '97 killed three people and caused nearly $2 billion in damages.
—Kayla Moeller, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026
In December, Doubao was China's top AI app with 155 million weekly active users, nearly double that of its closest competitor, DeepSeek's chatbot, according to business intelligence service provider QuestMobile.
—Elaine Yu, CNBC, 2 Jan. 2026
The scandals go back nearly a decade and include allegations of fraud in the Somali community focused on Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit prosecutors said falsely claimed to provide meals to needy children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN Money, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for nearly
Cite this Entry
“Nearly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nearly. Accessed 4 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
nearly
adverb
near·ly
ˈni(ə)r-lē 
1
: in a close manner or relationship
nearly related
2
: almost but not quite
nearly the same
nearly missed the train
3
: to the least extent
not nearly enough
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