Wiktionary

never

English

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English numbers (edit)
0 1  → [a], [b] 10  → 
    Cardinal: zero
    Ordinal: zeroth
    Abbreviated ordinal: 0th
    Adverbial: never

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English nevere, navere, nævere, from Old English nǣfre (“never”), equivalent to ne +‎ ever.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈnɛv.ə(ɹ)/
    • Audio (UK):(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈnɛv.ɚ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: nev‧er

Adverb

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never (not comparable)

  1. At no time; on no occasion; in no circumstance.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:never
    I finally finished, and I never want to do that again.
    I repeated the test a hundred times, and never saw a positive result.
    I will never tell.
  2. Not at any other time; not on any other occasion; not previously.
  3. (colloquial) Negative particle (used to negate verbs in the simple past tense; also used absolutely).
    The police say I stole the car, but I never did it.
    You said you were going to mow the lawn today. – I never!
    • 1905, E. W. Horning, A Thief in the Night:
      "You're never going to break in?"
      "This instant, if you'll, help me; in five or ten minutes, if you won't."
    • 1976, “C.B. Savage”, performed by Rod Hart:
      Well I looked at Jay and I said "hey, did you hear what I just heard?"
      He nodded his head and his face turned red and he never said a word

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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never

  1. (Manglish, Singlish, auxiliary) Did not; didn't.
    Antonyms: (Singlish) got, ever
    • 2007, Elangovan, P, Singapore, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 85:
      I told him to go to Woodlands to buy durian for me. He came back and said no durian. But he some more said-ah, he got see people selling durian in Bukit Timah. I ask him-ah. Why you never buy from Bukit Timah.
    • 2018, Jean Tay, Sisters & Senang: The Island Plays, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Scene 12, page 73:
      That's what he said. But I never see anything. Maybe it's an invisible dog. Or very good at hiding.

Interjection

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never

  1. A statement of defiance
    ‘Guess what, I've won the pools!’ ‘Never!’

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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Latvian

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Verb

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never

  1. inflection of nevērt:
    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 nevērt
  3. (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of nevērt

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology 1

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From Old Norse næfr.

Noun

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never f or m (definite singular neveren or nevra, indefinite plural nevrer or nevre, definite plural nevrene)

  1. birchbark

Etymology 2

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Noun

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never m

  1. indefinite plural of neve

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Alternative forms

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  • næver (old spelling, pronunciation spelling)

Etymology

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Inherited from Old Norse næfr. Compare Swedish näver.

Noun

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never f (definite singular nevra, indefinite plural nevrar or nevrer, definite plural nevrane or nevrene)

  1. birchbark

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Russenorsk: Næver

References

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Romansch

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Verb

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never

  1. (Sutsilvan) Alternative form of naiver (“to snow”)
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