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''nary'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260919121947-00-⌔

nary - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adverb

nary (not comparable)

  • (somewhat dated) Not, never.
    • ✤ And all about the room, candles gleaming in branched sconces. Nary one glare of electric light.1
    • ✤ Every day, uncomplaining, this ten-ounce muscle contracts 100 thousand times nary “missing a beat.” Over a lifetime of faithful service, these two self-lubricating, self-regulating, high-capacity pumps beat two and one-half billion times […]2
    • ✤ Then, it took her nary ten minutes to diagnose me with adrenal fatigue3
    • ✤ * Nary three weeks before, on December 12, Officer Cherylann Young steered a marked Miami-Dade County police cruiser toward the perimeter of MIA, the international airport.*4
    • ✤ Mr. Hat: ‘GOLDARMOR, THERE YOU ARE! I WAS THINKING… I’VE FOUGHT SCADS OF FOES, YET NARY A HAT IS WITHIN A GRASP!’5

Adjective

nary (not comparable)

  • (somewhat dated) Not any.
    • ✤ We’uns wuz willin’t fout fur ole Tennessee, but for nary other State. When he started out o’Tennessee we’uns jest concluded t’ strike out and leave him.6
    • ✤ I’m cheered you liked [“The Partridge Festival”] but I must have it back as I have nary other copy. If you really want to read somebody, read Proust for pity’s sake.7
    • ✤ Together standing on the step outside the apartment house. Where nary a moth will ever come to smash its little dust on a Bonniface window pane.8
    • ✤ “Pish, and who cares for nary other?” Mrs. Bostwick cried out, tossing Etta’s hand away from her. “I do, for one,” said Etta tartly.9
    • ✤ Daphne… there is nary a gentleman here who would not take your hand.10

Etymology

Univerbation of ne’er +‎ a.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈnɛə.ɹi/
  • (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA: /ˈnɛɚ.i/
  • (US, Canada, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA: /ˈnɛɹ.i/
    • Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger): 🔊
  • (Australia) IPA: /ˈneː.ɹi/
  • (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA: /ˈneəɹi/
  • (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA: /ˈniəɹi/
  • (Scotland) IPA: /ˈneɹɪ/, /ˈneɹe/
  • (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA: /ˈnɜːɹɪ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛəɹi

Printed 2026-09-19.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1923, Photoplay: The Aristocrat of Motion Picture Magazines: ↩

  2. 2014, Richard Swenson, More Than Meets the Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God’s Power and Design, Tyndale House, →ISBN: ↩

  3. 2014, Lori Gertz, When Mama Can’t Kiss it Better, A journey of love, loss and acceptance ‎: ↩

  4. 2018, Antero Pietila, The Ghosts of Johns Hopkins: The Life and Legacy that Shaped an American City ‎: ↩

  5. 2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, “Story” (Mr. Hat), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch: ↩

  6. 1910, John McElroy, Si Klegg: Experiences of Si and Shorty on the Great Tullahoma Campaign, page 109: ↩

  7. 1961 March 20, Flannery O’Connor, letter to Maryat Lee, published in 1988, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (→ISBN): ↩

  8. 1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 286: ↩

  9. 2010, Dorothy McCleary, Not for Heaven, Wildside Press LLC, →ISBN, page 289: ↩

  10. 2020 December 25, Chris Van Dusen, “Diamond of the First Water”, in Bridgerton, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Anthony Bridgerton: ↩

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