Adjacent Words

Neither definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NEITHER, n. [Compound pronoun, pronominal adjective, or a substitute, and not either, or not other. Not either; not the one nor the other.]
1. It refers to individual things or persons; as, which road shall I take? Neither, take neither road. The upright judge inclines to neither party. It is used as a substitute; as, the upright judge inclines to neither of the parties.
He neither loves Nor either cares for him.
2. It refers to a sentence; as, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it. That is, ye shall not eat, not either or other shall ye touch it; ye shall not eat, nor shall ye do the other thing here mentioned, that is, touch it. Genesis 3.
Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king; that is, fight not, either with small or great. 1 Kings 22.
Neither, in the first part of a negative sentence, is followed by nor, in the subsequent part. It is neither the one nor the other. But or would be most proper, for the negative in neither, applies to both parts of the sentence. It is often used in the last member of a negative sentence instead of nor, as in the passage above cited. Ye shall not eat it , neither shall ye touch it. Here neither is improperly used for nor, for not in the first clause refers only to that clause, and the second negative refers only to the second clause. Ye shall not eat it, nor shall ye touch it. In the sentences above, neither is considered to be a conjunction or connecting word, though in fact it is a pronoun or representative of a clause of a sentence.
3. Neither primarily refers to two; not either of two. But by usage it is applicable to any number, referring to individuals separately considered. Five or ten persons being charged with a misdemeanor or riot, each may say, neither of us was present.
4. Neither sometimes closes a sentence in a peculiar manner, thus, men come not to the knowledge of ideas thought to be innate, till they come to the use of reason; not then neither. That is not either when they come to the use of reason, or before. Formerly, in English, as in Greek and French, two negatives were used for one negation. But in such phrases as that above, good speakers now use either; nor then either.
NEM.CON. For nemine contradicente. No one contradicting or opposing, that is, unanimously; without opposition.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not either; not one or the other

Merriam Webster's

I. conjunction Etymology: Middle English, alteration (influenced by either) of nauther, nother, from Old English n?hwæther, n?ther, from n?, n? not + hwæther which of two, whether Date: 12th century 1. not either <neither black nor white> 2. also not <neither did I> Usage: Although use with or is neither archaic nor wrong, neither is usually followed by nor. A few commentators think that neither must be limited in reference to two, but reference to more than two has been quite common since the 17th century <rigid enforcement of antique decorum will help neither language, literature, nor literati — James Sledd>. II. pronoun Date: 13th century not the one or the other of two or more Usage: Some commentators insist that neither must be used with a singular verb. It generally is, but especially when a prepositional phrase intervenes between it and the verb, a plural verb is quite common <neither of those ideal solutions are in sight — C. P. Snow>. III. adjective Date: 14th century not either <neither hand> IV. adverb Date: 1551 1. chiefly dialect either <are not to be understood neither — Earl of Chesterfield> 2. similarly not ; also not <just as the serf was not permitted to leave the land, so neither was his offspring — G. G. Coulton>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., pron., adv., & conj. --adj. & pron. (foll. by sing. verb) 1 not the one nor the other (of two things); not either (neither of the accusations is true; neither of them knows; neither wish was granted; neither went to the fair). 2 disp. none of any number of specified things. --adv. 1 not either; not on the one hand (foll. by nor; introducing the first of two or more things in the negative: neither knowing nor caring; would neither come in nor go out; neither the teachers nor the parents nor the children). 2 not either; also not (if you do not, neither shall I). 3 (with neg.) disp. either (I don't know that neither). --conj. archaic nor yet; nor (I know not, neither can I guess). Etymology: ME naither, neither f. OE nowther contr. of nohwæther (as NO(2), WHETHER): assim. to EITHER

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Neither Nei"ther, conj. not either; generally used to introduce the first of two or more co["o]rdinate clauses of which those that follow begin with nor. Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king. --1 Kings xxii. 31. Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent, Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me. --Milton. When she put it on, she made me vow That I should neither sell, nor give, nor lose it. --Shak. Note: Neither was formerly often used where we now use nor. ``For neither circumcision, neither uncircumcision is anything at all.'' --Tyndale. ``Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it.'' --Gen. iii. 3. Neither is sometimes used colloquially at the end of a clause to enforce a foregoing negative (nor, not, no). ``He is very tall, but not too tall neither.'' --Addison. '' `I care not for his thrust' `No, nor I neither.''' --Shak. Not so neither, by no means. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Neither Nei"ther (? or ?; 277), a. [OE. neiter, nother, nouther, AS. n[=a]w?er, n[=a]hw[ae]?er; n[=a] never, not + hw[ae]?er whether. The word has followed the form of either. See No, and Whether, and cf. Neuter, Nor.] Not either; not the one or the other. Which of them shall I take? Both? one? or neither? Neither can be enjoyed, If both remain alive. --Shak. He neither loves, Nor either cares for him. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. You use neither in front of the first of two or more words or expressions when you are linking two or more things which are not true or do not happen. The other thing is introduced by 'nor'. Professor Hisamatsu spoke neither English nor German... The play is neither as funny nor as disturbing as Tabori thinks it is. CONJ 2. You use neither to refer to each of two things or people, when you are making a negative statement that includes both of them. At first, neither man could speak. DET • Neither is also a quantifier. Neither of us felt like going out. QUANT-NEG • Neither is also a pronoun. They both smiled; neither seemed likely to be aware of my absence for long. PRON 3. If you say that one person or thing does not do something and neither does another, what you say is true of all the people or things that you are mentioning. I never learned to swim and neither did they... Britain does not agree and neither do Denmark, Portugal and Ireland. = nor CONJ 4. You use neither after a negative statement to emphasize that you are introducing another negative statement. (FORMAL) I can't ever recall Dad hugging me. Neither did I sit on his knee. = nor CONJ 5. If you say that something is neither here nor there, you mean that it does not matter because it is not a relevant point. 'I'd never heard of her before I came here.'—'That is neither here nor there.' PHRASE: v-link PHR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

pron., a. Not either, nor one nor the other.