Adjacent Words

veriest definitions

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Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (superl. of VERY). archaic real, extreme (the veriest fool knows that).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Very Ver"y, a. [Compar. Verier; superl. Veriest.] [OE. verai, verray, OF. verai, vrai, F. vrai, (assumed) LL. veracus, for L. verax true, veracious, fr. verus true; akin to OHG. & OS. w[=a]r, G. wahr, D. waar; perhaps originally, that is or exists, and akin to E. was. Cf. Aver, v. t., Veracious, Verdict, Verity.] True; real; actual; veritable. Whether thou be my very son Esau or not. --Gen. xxvii. 21. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. --Prov. xvii. 9. The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness. --Milton. I looked on the consideration of public service or public ornament to be real and very justice. --Burke. Note: Very is sometimes used to make the word with which it is connected emphatic, and may then be paraphrased by same, self-same, itself, and the like. ``The very hand, the very words.'' --Shak. ``The very rats instinctively have quit it.'' --Shak. ``Yea, there where very desolation dwells.'' --Milton. Very is used occasionally in the comparative degree, and more frequently in the superlative. ``Was not my lord the verier wag of the two?'' --Shak. ``The veriest hermit in the nation.'' --Pope. ``He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood.'' --Hawthorne. Very Reverend. See the Note under Reverend.