What does never mean?

Definitions for never
ˈnɛv ərnev·er

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word never.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. never, ne'eradverb

    not ever; at no time in the past or future

    "I have never been to China"; "I shall never forget this day"; "had never seen a circus"; "never on Sunday"; "I will never marry you!"

  2. neveradverb

    not at all; certainly not; not in any circumstances

    "never fear"; "bringing up children is never easy"; "that will never do"; "what is morally wrong can never be politically right"

Wiktionary

  1. neveradverb

    At no time; on no occasion; in no circumstance.

  2. neveradverb

    Not at any other time; not on any other occasion; not previously.

  3. neveradverb

    Negative particle (used to negate verbs in the simple past tense; also used absolutely).

  4. Etymology: næfre

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. NEVERadverb

    Etymology: ne ever, næfre , Saxon; ne æfre , not ever.

    By its own force destroy’d, fruition ceas’d,
    And always weary’d, I was never pleas’d. Matthew Prior.

    Never any thing was so unbred as that odious man. William Congreve, Way of the World.

    Be it never so true which we teach the world to believe, yet if once their affections begin to be alienated, a small thing persuadeth them to change their opinions. Richard Hooker.

    Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say. Gen. xxxiv. 12.

    In a living creature, though never so great, the sense and the affects of any one part of the body, instantly make a transcursion throughout the whole body. Francis Bacon, Nat. Hist.

    They destroyed all, were it never so pleasant, within a mile of the town. Richard Knolles, Hist. of the Turks.

    He that shuts his eyes against a small light, would not be brought to see that which he had no mind to see, let it be placed in never so clear a light, and never so near him. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.

    That prince whom you espouse, although never so vigorously, is the principal in war, you but a second. Jonathan Swift.

    Whosoever has a faithful friend to guide him, may carry his eyes in another man’s head, and yet see never the worse. Robert South, Sermons.

    He answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governour marvelled. Matt. xxvii. 14.

    Nature assureth us by never-failing experience, and reason by infallible demonstration, that our times upon the earth have neither certainty nor durability. Walter Raleigh.

    Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sear,
    I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude. John Milton.

    Your never-failing sword made war to cease,
    And now you heal us with the acts of peace. Edmund Waller.

    So corn in fields, and in the garden flow’rs,
    Revive and raise themselves with mod’rate show’rs;
    But over-charg’d with never-ceasing rain,
    Become too moist. Edmund Waller.

    Our heroes of the former days,
    Deserv’d and gain’d their never-fading bays. Wentworth Dillon.

    Not Thracian Orpheus should transcend my lays,
    Nor Linus crown’d with never-fading bays. Dryden.

    Farewel, ye never-opening gates. John Dryden, Ovid.

    Leucippus, with his never-erring dart. Dryden.

    He to quench his drought so much inclin’d,
    May snowy fields and nitrous pastures find;
    Meet stores of cold so greedily pursu’d,
    And be refresh’d with never-wasting food. Richard Blackmore.

    Norton hung down his never-blushing head,
    And all was hush’d, as folly’s self lay dead. Alexander Pope, Dunc.

    What the weak head with strongest biass rules,
    Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools. Alexander Pope.

    Thy busy never-meaning face,
    Thy screw’d up front, thy state grimace. Jonathan Swift.

Wikipedia

  1. Never

    "It's Now or Never is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single in 1960. The song is the best-selling single by Presley (20 million copies), and one of the best-selling singles of all time. It was recorded by Bill Porter at RCA Studio B in Nashville. It is written in E major and has a tempo of 80 BPM. In 1960, "It's Now or Never" was a number-one record in the U. S. for Elvis Presley, spending five weeks at number one and the UK, where it spent eight weeks at the top in 1960 and an additional week at number one in 2005 as a re-issue, and numerous other countries, selling in excess of 25 million copies worldwide, Elvis Presley's biggest international single ever. Its British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance orders and to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare occurrence at the time. "It's Now or Never" peaked at number seven on the R&B charts.

ChatGPT

  1. never

    Never is an adverb that indicates an absence of something happening or a negative response to a question or request. It signifies that a certain action or event has not occurred at any point in time or is highly unlikely to happen in the future.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Neveradverb

    not ever; not at any time; at no time, whether past, present, or future

  2. Neveradverb

    in no degree; not in the least; not

  3. Etymology: [AS. nfre; ne not, no + fre ever.]

Wikidata

  1. Never

    "Never" is a song recorded by rock band Heart. It was released as the second single from the band's self-titled 1985 album Heart. The song is an aggressive rock number with an uplifting lyric to a person who has been discouraged by love. Like their previous single "What About Love", the music video for "Never" was placed in heavy rotation on MTV. "Never" became Heart's biggest U.S. hit at the time, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It marked the first time that Heart earned two consecutive top-ten hits, and also the first time a Heart album generated two top-ten singles. The songs harmonic chorus highlights not only Ann Wilson's powerhouse vocal talent but also the vocal stamina of sister Nancy, who maintains a soprano harmony throughout the course of the song. This track was covered by Mandisa during the fifth season of American Idol."Never" appeared as a selectable song on an episode of Don't Forget the Lyrics and performed by En Vogue.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Never

    nev′ėr, adv. not ever: at no time: in no degree: not.—adv. Nev′ermore, at no future time.—conj. Nevertheless′, notwithstanding: in spite of that (earlier Natheless).—adv. Neverthemore′ (Spens.), none the more. [A.S. nǽfrene, not, ǽfre, ever.]

Suggested Resources

  1. Never

    Never vs. Nevermind -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Never and Nevermind.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. NEVER

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Never is ranked #144141 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Never surname appeared 115 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Never.

    93.9% or 108 total occurrences were White.

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'never' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #150

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'never' in Written Corpus Frequency: #175

  3. Adverbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'never' in Adverbs Frequency: #28

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce never?

How to say never in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of never in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of never in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of never in a Sentence

  1. Denise Richards:

    Even though he’s Charlie Sheen, that is still, to them, their dad, i never talk badly about him and I want him to be part of their lives because I met a lot of the women that Charlie entertained and a lot of them had father-daughter issues. And I do not want that to be our girls.

  2. Clive Cussler:

    The mystery, of course, the intrigue and the history. I'm a history nut. I never say anything, but I got a Ph.D. in maritime history, but it's the challenge, I think. Because if you are successful, it's a great feeling of achievement. In my case, if it's lost, I'll look for it.

  3. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe:

    It is the Republicans in Congress who are causing this problem, i don't want this to be partisan. Have a debate on immigration, but never, never should you stop funding to the department of homeland security.

  4. Masaharu Ishizawa:

    The river has never flooded like this before, and some houses have been completely swept away. I think it might be time to redraw hazard maps or reconsider evacuation plans.

  5. Charlotte McKinney:

    I’ve never done anything like this before, i’ve never actually held a prop gun, so for me, the shooting was just super different and was really, really exciting.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

never#1#520#10000

Translations for never

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"never." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/never>.

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