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Very vs Closely - What's the difference?

very | closely |

As adverbs the difference between very and closely

is that very is to a great extent or degree; extremely; exceedingly while closely is in a close manner.

As an adjective very

is true, real, actual.

very

English

(wikipedia very)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • True, real, actual.
  • :
  • *Bible, (w) xxvii. 21
  • *:whether thou be my very son Esau or not
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness.
  • *(Edmund Burke) (1729-1797)
  • *:I looked on the consideration of public service or public ornament to be real and very justice.
  • *
  • *:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation
  • , passage=The country’s first black president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr. Obama seemed like a digital-age leader who could at last dislodge the stalemate between those who clung to the government of the Great Society, on the one hand, and those who disdained the very idea of government, on the other.}}
  • The same; identical.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
  • With limiting effect: mere.
  • *, I.40:
  • *:We have many examples in our daies, yea in very children, of such as for feare of some slight incommoditie have yeelded unto death.
  • Synonyms

    *

    Adverb

    (-)
  • To a great extent or degree; extremely; exceedingly.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
  • *, chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.}}
  • True, truly.
  • :
  • Usage notes

    * When used in their senses as degree adverbs, "very" and "too" never modify verbs.

    Synonyms

    * (to a great extent) ever so, (l) (dialectal), (l) (archaic), (l) (dialectal)

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    closely

    English

    Adverb

    (en-adv)
  • In a close manner.
  • Finnish and Estonian are closely related languages.
    The borderline between East and West Berlin was very closely guarded.
    The chairs are too closely spaced.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=April 29 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992) citation , page= , passage=“King Homer” follows the story of King Kong closely , with Mr. Burns taking the freakishly over-sized King Homer from his native Africa, where he lives proud as a simian god, to the United States, where he is an initially impressive but ultimately rather limited Broadway attraction. }}
  • (obsolete) secretly; privately
  • * Spenser
  • That nought she did but wayle, and often steepe / Her dainty couch with tears which closely she did weepe.