Dear vs Near - What's the difference?
dear | near |
Loved; lovable.
*
*:So this was my future home, I thought!Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
Loving, affectionate, heartfelt
:
Precious to or greatly valued by someone.
:
High in price; expensive.
:
A formal way to start (possibly after my ) addressing somebody at the beginning of a letter, memo etc.
:
A formal way to start (often after my ) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly.
:
*, chapter=7
, title= An ironic way to start (often after my ) addressing an inferior.
:
(lb) Noble.
A very kind, loving person.
A beloved person
(obsolete) dearly; at a high price
* Shakespeare
Physically close.
* Dryden
Closely connected or related.
* Bible, Leviticus xviii. 12
Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.
Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.
So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow.
(of an event) Approaching.
Approximate, almost.
(dated) Next to the driver, when he is on foot; (US) on the left of an animal or a team.
(obsolete) Immediate; direct; close; short.
* Milton
(obsolete, slang) Stingy; parsimonious.
Having a small intervening distance with regard to something.
(colloquial) nearly
* 1666 Samuel Pepys Diary and Correspondence (1867)
* 1825 David Hume, Tobias George Smollett The History of England p. 263
* 2003 Owen Parry Honor's Kingdom p. 365
* 2004 Jimmy Buffett A Salty Piece of Land p. 315, p. 35
* 2006 Juliet Marillier The Dark Mirror p. 377
Close to, in close proximity to.
* 1820 , (Mary Shelley), :
* , chapter=17
, title= * 1927 , , :
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author=
, volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Close to in time.
In obsolete terms the difference between dear and near
is that dear is dearly; at a high price while near is immediate; direct; close; short.As a preposition near is
close to, in close proximity to.dear
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) dere, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.
Derived terms
* dearly * dear me * dearnessNoun
(en noun)- My cousin is such a dear , always drawing me pictures.
Synonyms
* (kind loving person) darlingDerived terms
* oh dear * the dear knowsAdverb
(en adverb)- If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear .
Etymology 2
(etyl) dere, from (etyl) . Cognate with the aboveStatistics
*Anagrams
* English affectionate terms ----near
English
Synonyms
* near sideAntonyms
* off sideSee also
* nearsideAdjective
(er)- He served great Hector, and was ever near , / Not with his trumpet only, but his spear.
- She is thy father's near kinswoman.
- a near friend
- a version near to the original
- a near escape
- The end is near .
- The two words are near synonyms.
- the near''' ox; the '''near leg
- the nearest way
Antonyms
* remoteDerived terms
* near abroad * near-death experience * near-Earth object * Near East * near infrared * near-minimal pair * near miss * near the knuckle * nearly * nearnessAdverb
(er)- I'm near -sighted.
- ...he hears for certain that the Queen-Mother is about and hath near finished a peace with France....
- Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse.
- Thinking about those pounds and pence, I near forgot my wound.
- "I damn near forgot." He pulled an envelope from his jacket.
- The fire was almost dead, the chamber near dark.
Derived terms
* nearsightedPreposition
(English prepositions)- He entered the inn, and asking for dinner, unbuckled his wallet, and sat down to rest himself near the door.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.}}
- It shied, balked, and whinnied, and in the end he could do nothing but drive it into the yard while the men used their own strength to get the heavy wagon near enough the hayloft for convenient pitching.
John Vidal
Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas, passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.}}
Usage notes
Joan Maling (1983) shows that near'' is best analysed as an adjective with which the use of ''to'' is optional, rather than a preposition. It has the comparative and the superlative, and it can be followed by ''enough''. The use of ''to however is usually British.Antonyms
* far fromSee also
* (wikipedia) * para- * nighReferences
* Joan Maling (1983),Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis'', in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), ''Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles , vol.1, pp. 253-289.