only

Less common meanings

7. 7
   conjunctioncolloquial

   But, or except that, introducing a condition or a drawback to what was just said.

   Take the last piece, only leave some for your sister next time.

   Come in, only wipe your feet first.

   UsageUsually after a comma: Come in, only wipe your feet; I'd help, only I'm busy.

   Similarbut

   Note

   A clause-opener of conversation. It can follow a permission or an offer and attach a condition, often as a request: 'use my laptop, only don't spill anything on it.' In that use, the clause it introduces cuts against the first, narrowing a generous offer.

8. 8
   it's fairadverb

   Emphasizing that something is just, natural or necessary, as in 'it's only right' or 'it's only polite to reply'.

   It is only right that he should apologize.

   It's only sensible to check first.

   UsageIn it's only right, it's only fair, it's only natural, followed by that or to.

9. 9
   lone child (person)nouncountable

   An only child, used as a noun, chiefly in writing about families and birth order; the plural is onlys or onlies.

   Researchers compared onlies with firstborns.

   My husband is an only, so family dinners are quiet.

   UsageIn everyday talk, an only child is far more common than an only.

   Note

   A noun clipped from the adjective. It is at home in writing about birth order and child psychology, where onlys are set beside secondborns and children with siblings. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The noun occurs in writing comparing birth-order groups. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    nothing else will doadjective

    Singularly superior; the best, or the one thing worth considering.

    Paris, she insisted, is the only city to live in.

    If you want real barbecue in this town, Mel's is the only place to go.

    UsageIn the only + noun + to: the only place to go, the only way to travel.

    Similarbest, ideal

    Note

    Here uniqueness is inflated into praise: to call motley the only wear is to say nothing else is worth wearing. Shakespeare uses it in As You Like It. Foote in 1762 pushes it into the comic superlative onliest, which is funny because a word meaning 'one of a kind' resists comparison. The habit survives in boasts like 'the only place to live' and 'baseball's the only game.' Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Shakespeare uses 'the only wear' of motley in As You Like It; Jaques speaks the line. gutenberg.org
    • Samuel Foote's work containing 'onliest' was first published in 1762. cpercy.artsci.utoronto.ca
    • Foote uses 'onliest' in a comic passage; O'Droheda says it in The Orators. cpercy.artsci.utoronto.ca
    • 'Onliest' is a superlative form of 'only'. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    surpriseadverbBritish

    Expressing surprise or dismay at someone's action, usually before 'gone and'.

    They've only gone and called off the match.

    You'll never believe it, but Sam's only gone and quit his job to sail around the world.

    UsageIn has only gone and + past participle: he's only gone and quit.

    Note

    A British exclamation in which nothing is being limited at all. The word stresses that someone really did the startling thing. It also works with a progressive verb, marking shock that something was really going on: 'the cook was only using the same tongs for raw and cooked meat.' Read it as 'actually, unbelievably,' never as 'merely.'

12. 12
    that's allparticleSingaporeSinglish

    Placed at the end of a sentence to mark something as trivial, small, or undemanding.

    No need to dress up lah, we're just going to the hawker center only.

    I ask a question only, no need to shout.

    Note

    Singapore English puts the word at the very end of the sentence, where it works as a particle that shrinks what was said. 'Change the battery only' means it is a small job, nothing to fuss over. It can also belittle a rank or person, as in the scoffing 'President only!' Close equivalents are 'that's all' and Singlish nia. Standard English would put the limiter earlier: 'just the battery.' Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The quoted exclamation 'President only!' is attested in a dismissive exchange. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    adjectiveobsolete

    Mere; being nothing more than the bare thing itself.

    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.

    1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes

    Note

    This is a dead sense, but it is worth knowing for reading older prose. In Florio's 1603 Montaigne, 'the only name' of cuckoldry is its bare name, irksome even without the thing itself. A modern writer would say 'the very name' or 'the mere name.' When you meet it in writing of that age, read it as 'mere,' not 'sole,' or the sentence turns into nonsense. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The adjective sense meaning 'mere' is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Florio's translation of Montaigne was first published in 1603. florios-montaigne.org
    • Florio uses 'the only name' about cuckoldry, meaning that its mere name is distressing. hyperessays.net
14. 14
    adverbobsolete

    Above all others or particularly, intensifying rather than limiting.

    his most only elected mistress

    1604, John Marston, Parasitaster

    Note

    Long obsolete, and easy to misread. Marston's 1606 'his most only elected mistress' piles most onto the word. That only makes sense if it meant 'especially' or 'above all,' since a word meaning 'solely' would not take a superlative. When older verse seems to use it oddly, test whether 'particularly' fits before assuming the exclusive adverb. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The adverb sense 'above all others; particularly' is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
    • Parasitaster, or The Fawne was first published in 1606. Wiktionary labels 1604 as its writing date. gutenberg.org
    • The wording 'his most only elected mistress' occurs in Marston's play. gutenberg.org