near – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of near

Adjective: near

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativenearer
Superlativenearest

Perifrastic

Sample Sentences

  • I can't see near objects very clearly without my glasses.
  • Stay near at all times.
  • At the end of the line nearest the Arch, under a flary light, stood an old bearded man having the look on his face of a kindly but somewhat irritated moo-cow. [1914, Irvin S. Cobb, Europe Revised:]
  • Without any ceremony the near man let drive at my throat with one of those beastly wavy daggers they go in for. [1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:]
  • The end is near.
  • We're getting near to Christmas.
  • The deceased man had no near relatives.
  • she is thy fathers neere kinswoman. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 18:12:]
  • It is a matter of near consequence to me.
  • a near friend
  • The Besht preached that the simple man, imbued with native faith and able to pray fervently and wholeheartedly with a sense of joy in his heart, was nearer and dearer to God than the learned but joyless formalist spending his whole life in the study of Talmud. [2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 225:]
  • a version near to the original
  • a near escape
  • The two words are near synonyms.
  • The near front wheel came loose.
  • the near ox; the near leg
  • Toward ſolid good what leads the neareſt way; [1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] [Sonnet] XVII”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 61:]
  • Don't be near with your pocketbook.
  • [T]o let you know, Miss, he's so near, it's partly a wonder how he lives at all: and yet he's worth a power of money, too. [1782, [Frances Burney], chapter I, in Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son […], and T[homas] Cadell […], →OCLC:]
  • a near pointer

Adjectives inflected like near

sallow, smooth, slight, sleigh, sordid, somber, shweet, shrill, shrewd, yellow, yaller, hard knock, DRY, Greek, cut short, unquiet, unclean, indiscreet, chipper, straicht, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English nēar (“nearer”, comparative of nēah (“nigh”), the superlative would become next), influenced by Old Norse nær (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *nēhw (“near”), from the adjective *nēhwaz, ultimately from Pre-Proto-Germanic *h₂nḗḱwos, a lengthened-grade adjective derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).
2. Cognates
3. Cognate with North Frisian nai, noi, näi (“close, near”), Saterland Frisian nai (“close, near”), Dutch na (“close”), naar (“to, towards”), Dutch Low Saxon nao (“after”), German nach (“after”), nahe (“near”), näher (“nearer”), German Low German nao, nå (“towards”), Luxembourgish no (“after”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk nær (“close, near”), Swedish när, nära (“close, near”), Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐍈 (nēƕ, “close, near”). See also nigh.
4. Near appears to be derived from (or at the very least influenced by) the North Germanic languages; as opposed to nigh, which continues the inherited West Germanic adjective. Both, however, are ultimately derived from the same Proto-Germanic root: *nēhw (“near, close”). See: Dutch Adjectives 'na'.

Verbs referencing "near"

Dutch Adjectives nader.