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Only vs Even - What's the difference?

only | even |

In obsolete terms the difference between only and even

is that only is above all others; particularly while even is associate; fellow; of the same condition.

As adjectives the difference between only and even

is that only is alone in a category while even is flat and level.

As adverbs the difference between only and even

is that only is without others or anything further; exclusively while even is exactly, just, fully.

As nouns the difference between only and even

is that only is only child while even is evening.

As a conjunction only

is under the condition that; but.

As a verb even is

to make flat and level.

As a proper noun Even is

a Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia.

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.

    even

    English

    (wikipedia even)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) efen, efn, . The traditional proposal connecting the Germanic adjective with the root (etyl) ) is problematic from a phonological point of view.Schaffner, Stefan (2000). “Altindisch amnás'', urgermanisch *''e?na-'', kelt. *''e?no-''.” In: ''Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik. Akten des Kolloquiums der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 2. bis 5. Oktober 1997 in Erlangen , Forssman, Bernhard & Plath, Robert (eds.), Wiesbaden, pp. 491–505. In German.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Flat and level.
  • Clear out those rocks. The surface must be even .
  • Without great variation.
  • Despite her fear, she spoke in an even voice.
  • Equal in proportion, quantity, size etc.
  • The distribution of food must be even .
  • (not comparable, of an integer) Divisible by two.
  • Four, fourteen and forty are even numbers.
  • (of a number) Convenient for ing other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
  • * 1989 , , Other People's Money , Act I:
  • Coles. How many shares have you bought, Mr. Garfinkle?
    Garfinkle. One hundred and ninety-six thousand.
    Jorgenson. How'd you figure out to buy such an odd amount? Why not two hundred thousand — nice even' number. Thought you liked nice ' even numbers.
  • * 1998 , paperback edition, ISBN 0060930934, page 253 [http://books.google.com/books?id=28iYykbTIhwC&pg=PA253&dq=even]:
  • He put me on the scale in my underwear and socks: 82 pounds. I left, humming all day long, remembering that once upon a time my ideal weight had been 84, and now I'd even beaten that. I decided 80 was a better number, a nice even number to be.
  • On equal monetary terms; neither owing or being owed.
  • (colloquial) On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
  • You biffed me back at the barn, and I biffed you here—so now we're even .
  • parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit
  • * Bible, Luke xix. 44
  • And shall lay thee even with the ground.
  • (obsolete) Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I know my life so even .
  • (obsolete) Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
  • * Wyclif (Matt.)
  • His even servant.
    Usage notes
    * Because of confusion with the "divisible by two" sense, use of to mean "convenient for rounding" is rare; the synonym round is more common.
    Synonyms
    * (flat and level) flat, level, uniform * (without great variation) monotone (voice) * (convenient for rounding) round * (On equal monetary terms) quits (qualifier)
    Antonyms
    * (flat and level) uneven * (of an integer) odd
    Derived terms
    * break-even point * call it even * doubly even * even function * even keel * even odds * even-pinnate * even-steven, even-stevens * getting even * of even date * singly even

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make flat and level.
  • We need to even this playing field; the west goal is too low.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
  • His temple Xerxes evened with the soil.
  • * Evelyn
  • It will even all inequalities.
  • (obsolete) To equal.
  • * Fuller
  • to even him in valour
  • (obsolete) To be equal.
  • (obsolete) To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) To set right; to complete.
  • (obsolete) To act up to; to keep pace with.
  • (Shakespeare)
    Synonyms
    (to make flat and level ): flatten, level
    Derived terms
    * an even chance * break even * break-even * even as * even-handed * even if * even-keeled * evenly * evenhood * even money * even more * even out * even permutation * even stevens * even-tempered * even up * get even * of even date * uneven

    References

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Exactly, just, fully.
  • :
  • :
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.}}
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even' such a boat as the ''Mount Vernon'' offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, ' even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}
  • :
  • (lb) Rather.
  • :
  • Usage notes
    See
    Derived terms
    * even as we speak * even so * even though * not even * not even one

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) even, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch avond, Low German Avend, German Abend, Danish aften. See also the related terms (l) and (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic, or, poetic) Evening.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew ch. 8:
  • When the even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with devylles [...].
    Synonyms
    * e'en (archaic) * evening
    Derived terms
    * evenfall * evensong

    Statistics

    *