Added 9 October 2026
almost
/ˈɔːl.məʊst/ adverb
In Latin: paene, ferē Wiktionary
adverb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about almost at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
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Very close to, but not quite.
Almost all people went there.
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Up to, except for a negligible set (where negligible is not universally but contextually defined).
almost all
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Up to a null set; except for a set of measure 0.
almost everywhere
noun
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Something or someone that doesn't quite make it.
In all the submissions, they found four papers that were clearly worth publishing and another dozen almosts.
Origin
From Middle English almost, from Old English eallmǣst (“nearly all, almost, for the most part”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + most.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)