EVER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ever mean? 

• EVER (adverb)
  The adverb EVER has 3 senses:

1. at any time

2. at all times; all the time and on every occasion

3. (intensifier for adjectives) very

  Familiarity information: EVER used as an adverb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EVER (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

At any time

Synonyms:

ever; of all time

Context example:

the best con man of all time

Sense 2

Meaning:

At all times; all the time and on every occasion

Synonyms:

always; e'er; ever

Context example:

ever busy

Antonym:

never (not ever; at no time in the past or future)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(intensifier for adjectives) very

Synonyms:

ever; ever so

Context example:

she was ever so friendly

Domain usage:

intensifier; intensive (a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies)

 Context examples 

There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then suddenly, about five minutes later, there came a most horrible yell—the most dreadful sound, Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you are signing a deal on this day or launching a product, your profits are likely to be substantial and may be more than you ever imagined.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

While she stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Ruth Morse seemed farther removed than ever.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The smith, after several attempts, made the smallest that ever was seen among them, for I have known a larger at the gate of a gentleman’s house in England.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

These may be the last words I ever write in this diary.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was the call, the many-noted call, sounding more luringly and compellingly than ever before.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But this could not last for ever.

(White Fang, by Jack London)