# well

Pronunciation: say "WEL" /wɛl/

## Adverb

1. In a good, competent, satisfactory, or favorable way; as one would wish.
   - Simple: In a good or successful way, or the way you hoped.
   - _She speaks three languages well._
   - _The plan worked well until the rain came._
2. To a considerable degree or extent, used before adjectives, participles, adverbs and prepositions, as in well worth, well ahead or well before.
   - Simple: Very much or by a large amount, as in 'well known' or 'well ahead'.
   - _The monument is well worth seeing._
   - _Our new neighbor is well liked by everyone on the street._
4. Completely, thoroughly, or fully.
   - Simple: Completely or all the way.
   - _Shake the bottle well so the oil and vinegar mix together._
   - _Let the glue dry well before you put any weight on the chair._
8. Very, used as a general intensifier before any adjective. *(slang, Commonwealth, Ireland, UK)*
   - Simple: Very, used in front of almost any describing word.
   - _The new skate park by the station is well busy on Saturdays._
   - _That curry place on the high street is well tasty, honestly._
9. Placed after may, might or could to suggest that something is fairly probable or a genuine prospect.
   - Simple: Used after "may", "might" or "could" to say something is quite likely to happen or be true.
   - _Analysts warn that prices might well rise again before the end of the year._
   - _The fossil may well turn out to be the oldest of its kind ever found._
21. With good reason, considering the situation; in a way that can be justified or easily understood.
   - Simple: For a good reason, in a way that makes sense because of what is going on.
   - _He couldn't very well refuse the invitation after all they had done for him._
   - _The villagers were furious about the plant closing, and well they might be._

## Interjection

3. Used as a discourse marker to open a reply or a new stretch of talk without adding meaning.
   - Simple: A word used to start an answer or a new part of a story.
   - _So what happened next? Well, the car wouldn't start._
   - _Well, that's about all I can tell you._
7. Used to hesitate, hedge, or show reluctance, as when softening a suggestion or disagreement, accepting bad news, or pausing before saying something awkward.
   - Simple: Said when you pause or are unsure, or to make bad news or a disagreement sound softer.
   - _Well, I'm not sure that's the best idea, but we can try it._
   - _Well, that's one way of looking at it._
10. An exclamation of surprise, whether mock or sarcastic ('well, well') or indignant and offended ('Well! Of all the nerve').
   - Simple: Said to show surprise, sometimes joking and sometimes because you feel offended.
   - _Well, well, so you decided to come after all._
   - _Well, well, well, the tables have turned._
11. Used on its own as a question to demand an answer from someone who has not given one.
   - Simple: Said alone as a question to ask someone for an answer they have not given.
   - _Well? What have you got to say for yourself?_
   - _She folded her arms. Well?_
20. Used as a greeting, as a short way of asking how someone is. *(Ireland)*
   - Simple: A way of saying hello and asking how someone is.
   - _Well, Seán, any news?_
   - _'Well, Tom,' he said, sitting down at the bar._

## Adjective

5. In good health; fine or content, as in the reply 'I'm well, thank you.'
   - Simple: Healthy and feeling fine, or in a good state, as in 'all is well'.
   - _I'm well, thank you, and you?_
   - _All was well at the farm when we left._
15. Prudent, advisable, or a good idea, usually in the pattern it is well to.
   - Simple: Wise or sensible to do, usually in 'it is well to'.
   - _Before a long hike, it is well to tell someone where you are going._
   - _It would be well for us to read the contract again before we sign it._

## Noun

6. A shaft sunk into the ground to reach water, oil, natural gas or another fluid.
   - Simple: A deep hole dug in the ground to get water, oil, or gas.
   - _The old well behind the farmhouse still gives cold, clean water in summer._
   - _Farmers here pump their water from wells._
12. A natural spring; a place where water rises to the surface of its own accord.
   - Simple: A place where water comes up out of the ground by itself, a spring.
   - _People still tie ribbons to the trees around the old healing well, where spring water seeps from the ground._
   - _The village grew up around a well where clear water rises from the rocks._
14. A source of supply; a deep store to draw on.
   - Simple: A source that something comes from, like a well of ideas.
   - _The archive is a well of stories waiting to be told._
   - _His patience was a well that never ran dry._
16. A drink made with a bar's cheaper house liquor, poured from bottles kept within the bartender's reach.
   - Simple: In a bar, a cheap drink made with the house spirits.
   - _They're having a special tonight: one-dollar wells._
   - _A well costs four dollars here, but a top-shelf drink costs twelve._
17. A small hollow or depression that holds a liquid or other things, such as one of the cavities in a laboratory test plate.
   - Simple: A small hollow space that holds liquid or something else.
   - _Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients._
   - _The pen rested in a well cut into the desk._
18. In architecture, a vertical opening through the floors of a building, for a staircase or an elevator, also called a wellhole.
   - Simple: In a building, the open space that a staircase or elevator goes up through.
   - _The stair winds around an open well._
   - _Sound carried up the well from the lobby._
19. In a courtroom, the open space between the judge's bench and the tables where counsel sit, entered only with leave.
   - Simple: In a courtroom, the open floor between the judge's bench and the lawyers' tables.
   - _Counsel approached the bench across the well._
   - _The witness was led through the well to the stand._

## Verb

13. Of a liquid, to rise up and flow or seep out, as water from the ground, blood from a wound, or tears in the eyes; often with up.
   - Simple: When liquid such as water, blood, or tears rises up and starts to come out.
   - _Blood welled from the wound._
   - _Water seemed to well up from the bare hillside._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In video games of the Tetris kind, the playfield, the tall container into which the falling shapes drop and stack.
- (noun) A vertical, cylindrical trunk reaching to the lowest part of a ship's hull, through which the bilge pumps work.
- (noun) In military mining, an excavation sunk into the earth from which branches or galleries are driven, as toward a fortification.
- (noun) In metalworking, the lowest part of a furnace, the reservoir into which the molten metal falls and collects before tapping.
- (noun) In a graphical user interface, the area that holds the tabs for open documents, the tab well: drag a tab out of the well.
- (adjective) Pleasant to eat, with a good flavor.
- (noun) The sunken open area of a sailboat where the crew sits and steers.
- (noun) A watertight-sided tank amid a fishing boat's hold, with holes in its floor so seawater flows in and keeps the catch alive on the way to market.
- (noun) An upright shaft built into a ship's stern, letting its auxiliary propeller be raised clear of the sea when not in use.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–11, 15, 20–21** — From Middle English 'wel' and Old English 'wel' ('well, abundantly, very much'), from Proto-Germanic '*wela' (literally 'as wished, as desired') and ultimately a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'wish, desire'. It is related to 'will' and has cognates like Dutch 'wel', German 'wohl', and Swedish 'väl'.
**Meanings 6, 12, 14, 16–19** — From Middle English 'welle' and Old English 'wielle' ('well'), from Proto-Germanic '*wallijǭ' ('well, swirl, wave') and a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to turn, wind, roll'. Cognates include Dutch 'wel', German 'Welle' ('wave'), and Danish 'væld' ('well; spring').
**Meaning 13** — Old English had two verbs meaning "to boil," weallan (intransitive) and wiellan (transitive), and these merged into Middle English wellen. They go back to Proto-Germanic *wallaną and *wallijaną. The word is a doublet of wall, and its cognates include German wallen ("boil, seethe") and Albanian valë ("hot, boiling").

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