Almost Meaning
/ˈɔːl.məʊst/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
advVery close to, but not quite.
advUp to, except for a negligible set (where negligible is not universally but contextually defined).
Sentence Examples
It almost scared me not to see you online for a whole day.
Seriously though, episode 21 made me almost cry while laughing.
I like almost all of them.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After running for an hour, he was ____ finished with the long race.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I have ____ finished my project, and I should be done by tomorrow.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Indo-European *h₂elnós Proto-Germanic *allaz Proto-Germanic *ala- Proto-West Germanic *ala- Old English æl- Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-der. Proto-Germanic *maiz Proto-Germanic *maistaz Proto-Germanic *maist Proto-West Germanic *maist Old English mǣst Old English eallmǣst Middle English almost English almost From Middle English almost, from Old English eallmǣst (“nearly all, almost, for the most part”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + most.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →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. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter IX, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"For some odd reason, Sherin has chosen to direct the play as a comedy — at times almost a farce."
— 1976 December 25, Robert Chesley, “New York's "Nightingale" Does No Justice to Williams' Play”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 26, page 20:
"In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised."
— 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After running for an hour, he was ____ finished with the long race.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I have ____ finished my project, and I should be done by tomorrow.