near

Etymology

From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English nēar (“nearer”, comparative of nēah (“nigh”), the superlative would become next), influenced by Old Norse nær (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *nēhw (“near”), from the adjective *nēhwaz, ultimately from Pre-Proto-Germanic *h₂nḗḱwos, a lengthened-grade adjective derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).

Cognate with Old Frisian niār (“nearer”), Dutch naar (“to, towards”), German näher (“nearer”), Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”). See also nigh.

Near appears to be derived from (or at the very least influenced by) the North Germanic languages; compare Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”), as opposed to nigh, which continues the inherited West Germanic adjective, like Dutch na (“close, near”), German nah (“close, near, nearby”), Luxembourgish no (“nearby, near, close”). Both, however, are ultimately derived from the same Proto-Germanic root: *nēhw (“near, close”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nîr; IPA^(key): /nɪə̯(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /nɪː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Standard Southern British):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: nîr; IPA^(key): /nɪɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) enPR: nîr; IPA^(key): /nɪə̯/, [nɪː]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [niːɹ]
• (cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /nɛə/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Adjective

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. Physically close.

   Synonym: close

   Antonym: remote

   I can't see near objects very clearly without my glasses.

   Stay near at all times.

   • 1914, Irvin S. Cobb, Europe Revised:

     At the end of the line nearest the Arch, under a flary light, stood an old bearded man having the look on his face of a kindly but somewhat irritated moo-cow.

2. Close in time.

   The end is near.

3. Closely connected or related.

   The deceased man had no near relatives.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 18:12:

     she is thy fathers neere kinswoman.

4. Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.

   A matter of near consequence to me.

   a near friend

   • 2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 225:

     The Besht preached that the simple man, imbued with native faith and able to pray fervently and wholeheartedly with a sense of joy in his heart, was nearer and dearer to God than the learned but joyless formalist spending his whole life in the study of Talmud.

5. Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.

   a version near to the original

6. So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow.

   a near escape

7. Approximate, almost.

   The two words are near synonyms.

8. (British, in relation to a vehicle) On the side nearest to the kerb (the left-hand side if one drives on the left).

   Antonym: off

   The near front wheel came loose.

9. (dated) Next to the driver, when he is on foot; (US) on the left of an animal or a team.

   the near ox; the near leg

10. (obsolete) Immediate; direct; close; short.
    • 1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] [Sonnet] XVII”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 61:

      Toward ſolid good what leads the neareſt way;

11. (now rare) Stingy; parsimonious. [from 17th c.]

    Don't be near with your pocketbook.

    • 1782, [Frances Burney], chapter I, in Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son […], and T[homas] Cadell […], →OCLC:

      [T]o let you know, Miss, he's so near, it's partly a wonder how he lives at all: and yet he's worth a power of money, too.

12. (programming, not comparable) Within the currently selected segment in a segmented memory architecture.

    Antonym: far

    a near pointer

Adverb

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. At or towards a position close in space or time. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. Nearly; almost.

   He was near unconscious when I found him.

   I jumped into the near-freezing water.

   I near ruptured myself trying to move the piano.

   • 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence, published 1867:

     […] he hears for certain that the Queen-Mother is about and hath near finished a peace with France […]

   • 1825, David Hume, Tobias George Smollett, The History of England, page 263:

     Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 169:

     Peter ran after them as fast as his legs would carry him, but at last he had only one of the hares left, and when this was gone, he was very near burst with running.

   • 2003, Owen Parry, Honor's Kingdom, page 365:

     Thinking about those pounds and pence, I near forgot my wound.

   • 2004, Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land, page 315:

     "I damn near forgot." He pulled an envelope from his jacket.

   • 2006, Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror, page 377:

     The fire was almost dead, the chamber near dark.

Preposition

near

2. Physically close to, in close proximity to.

   There are habitable planets orbiting many of the stars near our Sun.

   • 1957, Edgar Snow, Random Notes on Red China‎, Harvard University Press, published 1968, →OCLC, page 103:

     Ts'ai Ch'ien 蔡乾 was born in 1908 in Changhua near Taichung, Taiwan (Formosa).

   • 1820, Mary Shelley, Maurice:

     He entered the inn, and asking for dinner, unbuckled his wallet, and sat down to rest himself near the door.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space:

     It shied, balked, and whinnied, and in the end he could do nothing but drive it into the yard while the men used their own strength to get the heavy wagon near enough the hayloft for convenient pitching.

   • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:

     Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.

3. Close to in time.

   The voyage was near completion.

4. Close to in nature or degree.

   His opinions are near the limit of what is acceptable.

   • 2019, Emma Lea, A Royal Enticement:

     There was no way Brín felt anything anywhere near what I felt for him. He saw me as a friend.

Verb

near (third-person singular simple present nears, present participle nearing, simple past and past participle neared)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To come closer to; to approach.

   The ship nears the land.

   • 1964 May, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Modern Railways, pages 331–332:

     We started back in the same conditions, and for part of the journey ran through semi-darkness, but the sun appeared once again as we neared London.

   • 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 38:

     As he neared a bridge over the East Coast Main Line near Great Heck, he lost control. His Land Rover left the carriageway and veered onto the hard shoulder before biting into the grass verge.

Noun

near (plural nears)

1. The left side of a horse or of a team of horses pulling a carriage etc.

   Synonym: near side

   Antonym: off side

References

• “near”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, vol.1, pp. 253-289.

Anagrams

• nare, eRNA, earn, Nera, rean, Rane, Earn, Arne, erna, EARN

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈne.ar/, [ˈneär]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.ar/, [ˈnɛːär]

Verb

near

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of neō

Verb

near

1. inflection of neart:
   1. second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. third-person plural present indicative
   3. second-person singular imperative
2. (with the particle lai) third-person singular imperative of neart
3. (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of neart

Alternative forms

• ne n

Etymology

From Old Norse niðar, nominative and accusative plural of nið f (“waning moon”).

Noun

near pl (definite plural neane)

1. a lunar phase of an old moon, i.e. period of time in which the moon is waning

   Antonym: ny

References

• “ne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• aner, Arne, Erna, nare, rane, rena, Rena

Alternative forms

• naar, neer, n'eer, ne'er, ne're, neveare

Etymology

From Middle English nevere, from Old English nǣfre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/, /nɛˈviː/

Adverb

near

1. never
   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 93:

     A near a haapney to paay a peepeare.

     Had ne'er a halfpenny to pay the piper.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 59