What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Purely vs Just - What's the difference?

purely | just |

As adverbs the difference between purely and just

is that purely is wholly; really, completely while just is only, simply, merely.

As an adjective just is

factually fair; right, correct; proper.

As a noun just is

a joust, tournament.

As a verb just is

to joust, fight a tournament.

purely

English

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • * 1962 , , Flush Times :
    • I am fascinated by the entire scene, I purely am.
  • Solely; exclusively; merely, simply.
  • * 2005 , Owen Bowcott, The Guardian , 8 Apr 2005:
    • The IRA should "lead by example" and "unilaterally" abandon paramilitary violence and adopt a purely political strategy, a leading Sinn Féin MP urged yesterday.
  • * 2007 , ‘(Helen Brooks)’, His Christmas Bride :
  • *:"But this meal tonight is not a date, not in the traditional sense. It's purely platonic, I assure you."
  • Chastely, innocently; in a sinless manner, without fault.
  • * 1623 , (William Shakespeare), Troilus and Cressida , First Folio, IV.7:
    • faith and troth, / Strain'd purely from all hollow bias drawing: / Bids thee with most diuine integritie, / From heart of very heart, great Hector welcome.
  • * 1823 , (Samuel Taylor Coleridge), Table Talk :
    • By some means or other the water flows purely , and separated from the filth, in a deeper and narrower course on one side of the rock, and the refuse of the dirt and troubled water goes off on the other in a broader current [...].
    English manner adverbs English degree adverbs English focus adverbs

    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
    Related terms
    * justice

    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

    *

    Anagrams

    * 100 English basic words English degree adverbs English focus adverbs 1000 English basic words ----