Word Study
never
CIDE DICTIONARY
never, adv. [AS. n; ne not, no + ever.].
- Not ever; not at any time; at no time, whether past, present, or future. Shak. [1913 Webster]"Death still draws nearer, never seeming near." [1913 Webster]
- In no degree; not in the least; not. [1913 Webster]" Never is much used in composition with present participles to form adjectives, as in never-ceasing, never-dying, never-ending, never-fading, never-failing, etc., retaining its usual signification." [1913 Webster]"Whosoever has a friend to guide him, may carry his eyes in another man's head, and yet see never the worse." [1913 Webster]"And he answered him to never a word." [1913 Webster]
Ask me
A fear of battery, . . . though
OXFORD DICTIONARY
never, adv.
1 a at no time; on no occasion; not ever (have never been to Paris; never saw them again). b colloq. as an emphatic negative (I never heard you come in).
2 not at all (never fear).
3 colloq. (expressing surprise) surely not (you never left the key in the lock!).
1 a at no time; on no occasion; not ever (have never been to Paris; never saw them again). b colloq. as an emphatic negative (I never heard you come in).
2 not at all (never fear).
3 colloq. (expressing surprise) surely not (you never left the key in the lock!).
Idiom
never-never (often prec. by the) Brit. colloq. hire purchase. never-never land an imaginary utopian place. never a one none. never say die see DIE(1). well I never! expressing great surprise.
Etymology
OE n{aelig}fre f. ne not + {aelig}fre EVER
THESAURUS
never
God forbid, at no hand, at no time, au contraire, by no means, far from it, in no case, in no respect, in no way, in no wise, never on earth, nevermore, no matter what, nohow, not, not a bit, not a jot, not a speck, not a whit, not an iota, not at all, not ever, not much, not nearly, noway, noways, nowhere near, nowise, on no account, on no condition, on no occasion, quite the contrary, to the contrary, under no circumstancesROGET THESAURUS
never
Neverness
N neverness, absence of time, no time, dies non, Tib's eve, Greek Kalends, a blue moon, never, ne'er, at no time, at no period, on the second Tuesday of the week, when Hell freezes over, on no occasion, never in all one's born days, nevermore, sine die, in no degree.Negation
N negation, abnegation, denial, disavowal, disclaimer, abjuration, contradiction, contravention, recusation, protest, recusancy, flat contradiction, emphatic contradiction, emphatic denial, dementi, qualification, repudiation, retraction, confutation, refusal, prohibition, denying, denied, contradictory, negative, negatory, recusant, at issue upon, no, nay, not, nowise, not a bit, not a whit, not a jot, not at all, nohow, not in the least, not so, negative, negatory, no way, no such thing, nothing of the kind, nothing of the sort, quite the contrary, tout au contraire, far from it, tant s'en faut, on no account, in no respect, by no, by no manner of means, negatively, never, never in a million years, at no time, there never was a greater mistake, I know better, non haec in faedera, a thousand times no.For further exploring for "never" in Webster Dictionary Online
