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Just vs Only - What's the difference?

just | only |

As adjectives the difference between just and only

is that just is factually ; correct; proper while only is alone in a category.

As adverbs the difference between just and only

is that just is only, simply, merely while only is without others or anything further; exclusively.

As a noun just

is a joust, tournament.

As a verb just

is to joust, fight a tournament.

As a conjunction only is

under the condition that; but.

just

English

(wikipedia just)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) juste, from (etyl) juste, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch & Scottish juist, French juste etc.

Adjective

  • Factually ; right, correct; proper.
  • It is a just assessment of the facts.
  • Morally ; upright; righteous, equitable.
  • It looks like a just solution at first glance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We know your grace to be a man / Just and upright.
    Synonyms
    * fair * upright * righteous * equitable
    Antonyms
    * unjust
    Derived terms
    * justly * justness

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Only, simply, merely.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}
  • (sentence adverb) (Used to reduce the force of an imperative); simply.
  • (speech act) (Used to convey a less serious or formal tone)
  • (speech act) (Used to show humility).
  • (degree) absolutely, positively
  • Moments ago, recently.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room
  • By a narrow margin; closely; nearly.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.}}
  • Exactly, perfectly.
  • Precisely.
  • * (John Dryden)
  • And having just enough, not covet more.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • The god Pan guided my hand just to the heart of the beast.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • To-night, at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
    Synonyms
    * merely, simply * barely, hardly, scarcely
    Derived terms
    * just folks

    Etymology 2

    Variation of joust, presumably ultimately from (etyl) iuxta 'near, besides'.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A joust, tournament.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To joust, fight a tournament.
  • (Fairfax)

    References

    * *

    Statistics

    *

    only

    English

    Alternative forms

    * onely (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Alone in a category.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author= Nick Miroff
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=32, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Mexico gets a taste for eating insects , passage=The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile. Only the city zoo offers greater species diversity.}}
  • Singularly Superior; the best.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • Motley's the only wear.
  • Without sibling; without a sibling of the same gender.
  • * 1949 , and (Ernestine Gilbreth Carey), (Cheaper by the Dozen) , dedication:
  • To DAD ¶ who only reared twelve children ¶ and ¶ To MOTHER ¶ who reared twelve only children
  • (label) Mere.
  • * , I.40:
  • I know some who wittingly have drawne both profit and preferment from cuckoldrie, the only name whereof is so yrksome and bail-ful to so many men.

    Synonyms

    * (alone in a category) sole, lone * (singularly superior) peerless, unequaled, nonpareil

    Derived terms

    * if any * if only * one and only * only child * only game in town * only if

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Without others or anything further; exclusively.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • No more than; just.
  • * 1949 , Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, (Cheaper by the Dozen) , dedication:
  • To DAD
    who only reared twelve children
    and
    To MOTHER
    who reared twelve only children
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
  • As recently as.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
  • (obsolete) Above all others; particularly.
  • * Marston
  • his most only elected mistress

    Derived terms

    * if and only if * only if

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • Under the condition that; but.
  • However.
  • But for the fact that; except.
  • Statistics

    *

    Noun

    (onlies)
  • (rare) only child
  • * 2013 , Sybil L. Hart, ?Maria Legerstee, Handbook of Jealousy
  • The consistent finding that infants who are onlies do not differ from those who have siblings despite their lesser history of exposure to differential treatment is perplexing.