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What is the difference between anything and any?

anything | any | Derived terms |

Any is a derived term of anything.



As adverbs the difference between anything and any

is that anything is in any way, any extent or any degree while any is to even the slightest extent, at all.

As pronouns the difference between anything and any

is that anything is any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; thing of any kind; something or other; aught while any is any thing(s) or person(s).

As a noun anything

is someone or something of importance.

As a determiner any is

at least one; of at least one kind. One at all.

anything

English

Adverb

(-)
  • In any way, any extent or any degree.
    • That isn't anything like a car.

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; thing of any kind; something or other; .
  • :
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer languageunderstood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade , or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= No hiding place , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1916, author=Edward S. Moffat, title=Go Forth and Find, page=81-82
    • , passage=Perhaps it was this atmosphere of misplacedness and loneliness as much as anything which led her to speak to him one evening in early summer when the office had closed.}}

    Derived terms

    () * anything else * anything goes * anythingarian * as anything * if anything * not much of anything * not that there's anything wrong with that

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone or something of importance.
  • *
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=May 6, author=Cindy Chupack, title=An Ancient Coda to My 21st-Century Divorce, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=So we tried not to talk about first or second anythings until our meeting with the rabbi. }}

    Related terms

    () * thing * nothing * something * everything * anybody, anyone * anywhere

    References

    *

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words English compound determinatives English indefinite pronouns English third person pronouns

    any

    English

    (wikipedia any)

    Alternative forms

    * anie (obsolete)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • To even the slightest extent, at all.
    • I will not remain here any longer.
    If you get any taller, you'll start having to duck through doorways!
  • * 1934 , edition, ISBN 0553278193, page 58:
    • I wasn't any too easy in my mind.

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • At least one; of at least one kind. One at all.
  • :
  • *Bible, (w) xi. 27
  • *:No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
  • No matter what kind.
  • :
  • *
  • *:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. In complexion fair, and with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as any Viking, as broad in the shoulder.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

    Derived terms

    * any and all * any old * any press is good press * any time * anybody * anyhow * anymore * anyone * anyplace * anyroad * anything * anytime * anyway * anywhen * anywhence * anywhere * anywhither * anywho * anywhom * in any case * just any

    See also

    * some

    Pronoun

    (head)
  • Any thing(s) or person(s).
    • Any may apply.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * * English indefinite pronouns English pronouns 1000 English basic words ----