anything
Pluralanythings
Formsanythings, anythinging, anythinged
- 1Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatsoever; a thing of any kind.
If anything goes wrong during the launch, alert the control room at once.
He insisted he hadn't taken anything from the abandoned warehouse.
UsageMostly in questions, negatives and if clauses; in other statements anything usually means 'no matter what', and something is the usual word otherwise.
Similaraught
Oppositenothing
- 2In any respect or to any degree at all.
The new model isn't anything like as fast as the old one.
The finished house didn't look anything like the drawings the builder had shown us.
UsageUsually after a negative, leading into like, near or as: not anything like as fast.
Note
Despite the identical spelling, this adverb has its own history, separate from the pronoun. It comes from Old English ǣniġe þinga, "by any of things," with ǣniġe in the instrumental case.
- 3Used in a comparison to stand for an extreme but unstated degree, typically after "as".
The old porch boards were rotten as anything, yet they held our weight.
She was pleased as anything to hear that the trip was finally booked.
UsageUsually adjective + as anything, often with another as before it (as pleased as anything); like anything also works after verbs.
Note
A comparison left open-ended: after as or like, anything stands for whatever might complete the comparison, and the effect is to push it toward an extreme. Edward S. Moffat's Go Forth and Find (1916) writes "as much as anything," meaning no other cause counted for more. The same frame intensifies an adjective, as in pleased as anything.
Less common meanings
- 4A person or thing considered to be of real importance or worth.
His father warned him that if he dropped out of college he would never amount to anything.
She had begun to fear that all those years of practice would never amount to anything.
UsageMost often in amount to anything or be anything, in negative or doubtful sentences: he'll never amount to anything.
Similarsomebody
Oppositenobody
- 5Serves as a stand-in that can replace any one of a group of related verbs.
She refuses to text him, call him, or anything him until he apologizes.
Honestly, Mom, I never teased him, poked him, or anything him; he just started crying.
UsageUsually comes after one or more real verbs, which show what it stands for: call him, text him, or anything him.
Note
It conjugates like any regular verb (anythings, anythinging, anythinged) and works with an object or without one: you never want to anything him. It can even turn passive, as when a character in the novel Fanny Hervey refuses to be "half-anythinged."
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Late Old English aniþing grew out of the earlier phrase ǣniġ þing, literally "any thing", and passed into Middle English as anything; in other words, any + thing.
Old English had ǣniġe þinga, literally "by any of things": ǣniġe is a form of ǣniġ ("any") and þinga is the genitive plural of þing ("thing"). The phrase became Middle English anything.