almost

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(almost) upon (one)

(Almost) about to happen, arrive, or commence. I can't believe the Christmas season is upon us again. The years seem to be going faster and faster recently! Every time the deadline for filing taxes is almost upon me, I start to get really anxious and irritable.

almost doesn't count

Nearly doing something is not the same as actually doing it. A: "Come on Mom, I almost cleaned my whole room!" B: "I asked you to clean your room this weekend before company comes, and almost doesn't count!"

almost lost it

Nearly erupted in an intense display of emotion, usually anger or laughter. I almost lost it on the waitress after she messed up my order for the third time. Paul almost lost it at the airport when he found out that his luggage was missing. Wow, when he slipped on that banana peel, I almost lost it.

almost never

Hardly ever. I almost never go out on Friday nights anymore—I'm too old for that! We almost never travel, so this vacation is a rare treat for us.

almost there

1. Soon to be or nearly at, to, or in a given location. Don't get so restless, Mary, we're almost there.

2. Soon to be or nearly finished with some goal or task. Almost there, everyone! We just need three more orders filled and we'll be done.

sort of

Somewhat; partially; a little. I'm happy that it's summertime, but I'm still sort of sad that school is over. A: "Are you feeling better?" B: "Sort of. My throat isn't sore anymore but I'm still congested."

See also: of, sort

almost lost it

Fig. to nearly lose one's temper, composure, or control, as out of anger. I was so mad, I almost lost it. When he saw the dent in his fender, he almost lost it.

sort of

and kind of

Yes, but only to a small degree. Bob: Do you like what you're doing in school? Alice: Kind of. Henry: What do you think about all these new laws? Do they worry you? John: Sort of.

See also: of, sort

sort of something

and kind of something

almost something; somewhat; somehow. Isn't it sort of cold out? That was kind of a stupid thing to do, wasn't it?

See also: of, sort

sort of

Informal

Somewhat; rather: "Gambling and prostitution ... have been prohibited, but only sort of" (George F. Will).

See also: of, sort

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in classic literature ?

"Captain Granet," she said almost in a whisper, "of course you'll think we are all mad, but would you mind coming upstairs into my little sitting-room?"

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He steadily refused to accompany his father into Herefordshire, an engagement formed almost at the moment to promote the dismissal of Catherine, and as steadily declared his intention of offering her his hand.

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In the case of those species, which have undergone during whole geological periods but little modification, there is not much difficulty in believing that they may have migrated from the same region; for during the vast geographical and climatal changes which will have supervened since ancient times, almost any amount of migration is possible.

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Bill was enabled to go for an after-dinner stroll in a condition of almost painful loyalty to Claire.

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Why, we have come almost to looking upon real life as an effort, almost as hard work, and we are all privately agreed that it is better in books.

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I should say that Goldoni was almost English, almost American, indeed, in his observance of the proprieties, and I like this in him; though the proprieties are not virtues, they are very good things, and at least are better than the improprieties.

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Their past experience of Caspak had taught them that they might expect to come upon a stagnant pool of warm water if they followed the stream to its source; but there they were almost certain to find some of Caspak's grotesque, manlike creatures.

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The scream which had been coming almost choked him.

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They come back to me now almost with the palpitation they caused, the successive feelings that accompanied my consciousness that as the door of the room closed behind me I was really face to face with the Juliana of some of Aspern's most exquisite and most renowned lyrics.

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The invention of printing, multiplying books in unlimited quantities where before there had been only a few manuscripts laboriously copied page by page, absolutely transformed all the processes of knowledge and almost of thought.

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Sometimes days and even weeks of gloomy silence and tears would be succeeded by a period of hysterical animation, and the invalid would begin to talk almost incessantly of her son, of her hopes of his future.

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To describe the wealth of Colonel Lloyd would be almost equal to describing the riches of Job.

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Dashwood could spare them perfectly well; and Elinor, who now understood her sister, and saw to what indifference to almost every thing else she was carried by her eagerness to be with Willoughby again, made no farther direct opposition to the plan, and merely referred it to her mother's decision, from whom however she scarcely expected to receive any support in her endeavour to prevent a visit, which she could not approve of for Marianne, and which on her own account she had particular reasons to avoid.

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But, though the bank was almost always with him, and though the coach (in a confused way, like the presence of pain under an opiate) was always with him, there was another current of impression that never ceased to run, all through the night.

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She was quite confiding with me, and I loved her almost as soon as I spoke to her.