well-nigh
Pronunciation
  • IPA: [ˈwɛɫnaɪ]
Adverb

well-nigh (not comparable)

  1. Almost, nearly.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto I, [https://books.google.co.in/books?id=S9tBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=well-nigh(Spenser)&q&f=false#v=onepage&q=well-nigh(Spenser)&f=false page 3]:
      The ſame ſo ſore annoyed has the Knight, / That well-nigh choaked with the deadly ſtink,
    • 1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary:
      The household cock had given his first summons, and the night was wellnigh spent.
    • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
      […] Sindbad the Seaman continued:— So when I escaped drowning and reached the island which afforded me fruit to eat and water to drink, I returned thanks to the Most High and glorified Him; after which I sat till nightfall, hearing no voice and seeing none inhabitant. Then I lay down, well-nigh dead for travail and trouble and terror, and slept without surcease till morning, […]
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