# almost

Pronunciation: say "AWL-mohst" US /ˈɔl.moʊst/, UK /ˈɔːɫ.məʊst/

## Adverb

1. Very close to a state, amount, or outcome, but not quite reaching it.
   - Simple: Very close to something but not completely there yet.
   - _The bottle was almost empty by the end of the trip._
   - _He almost finished the marathon before cramping forced him to stop._

## Noun

2. A person or thing that comes close to succeeding but ultimately falls short. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A person or thing that gets close to success but fails to reach it.
   - _For years he was the almost of the chess world, reaching six finals and losing every one._
   - _The band's early years were a string of almosts: record deals that fell apart at the last minute._

## Other meanings

- (adverb) In mathematics, true in every case except for a negligible set, such as a set of measure zero (as in almost all, almost everywhere).

## Origin

Old English eallmǣst ("nearly all, almost, for the most part"), made of al- ("all") and most, became Middle English almost.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/almost (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).