- at no time; not ever
- certainly not; by no means; in no case
- Also: well I never! surely not!
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
nev•er /ˈnɛvɚ/USA pronunciation
adv.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- not ever;
at no time;
not at any time:It never happened. He never knew what hit him. - not at all;
absolutely not:This will never do.
- Idioms never mind, don't bother;
don't concern yourself:Never mind about your mistake.
nev•er
(nev′ər),USA pronunciation adv.
- not ever;
at no time:Such an idea never occurred to me. - not at all;
absolutely not:never mind; This will never do. - to no extent or degree:He was never the wiser for his experience.
- Idioms never mind, don't bother;
don't concern yourself.
- bef. 900; Middle English; Old English nǣfre, equivalent. to ne not + ǣfre ever
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
never /ˈnɛvə/ adv , sentence substitute
In informal speech and writing, never can be used instead of not with the simple past tenses of certain verbs for emphasis (I never said that; I never realized how clever he was), but this usage should be avoided in serious writing
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'never' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
ageless
- Algren
- amaranth
- aromantic
- asymmetric
- blue moon
- but
- butterfly
- carbonic acid
- circumstance
- Darcy
- darken
- determine
- die
- double negative
- Eretria
- everlasting
- flinch
- get by
- give
- indeed
- Ishiguro
- know
- let on
- like
- look back
- Mahometan
- maiden
- Mercouri
- mind
- mix
- Mohammedan
- Mohammedanism
- nary
- natheless
- ne'er
- nevermore
- never-never
- new
- NM
- one
- only
- parallel
- perpetual debenture
- pour
- regard
- revolving
- seal
- sentence substitute
- ad kalendas Graecas
