Wiktionary

indeed

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English indede, contraction of the phrase in dede (“in sooth, in fact”); equivalent to in +‎ deed (similar in formation to in fact, in truth, etc.). Cognate with Saterland Frisian innerdoat, innedoat (“indeed”), West Frisian yndied (“indeed”), Dutch inderdaad (“indeed”), German in der Tat (“indeed”). First attested in the early 14th century.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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indeed (not comparable)

  1. (modal) Truly; in fact; actually.
    Synonyms: certainly, definitely, in fact, indubitably, really, surely, truly, undoubtedly; see also Thesaurus:actually
    Indeed, he made several misplays.
    Yes, I do indeed look very similar to you.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time that he wore kilts. But I see that I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed, she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
      With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].
  2. (degree, after the adjective modified) In fact.
    As a soccer player, he is terrible indeed.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Interjection

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indeed

  2. Indicates emphatic agreement.
    Synonyms: absolutely, for real, forsooth, indubitably, sure thing, true that
    "I am a great runner." "Indeed!"
  3. With interrogative intonation (low-high) indicates serious doubt.
    "I am a great runner." "Indeed?"

Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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