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Other

only

Pronunciation: /ˈəʊnli/
Translate only | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of only

adverb

  • 1and no one or nothing more besides; solely:there are only a limited number of tickets available only their faith sustained them
  • no more than (implying that more was expected); merely:deaths from heart disease have only declined by 10 per cent she was still only in her mid thirties
  • 2no longer ago than:genes that were discovered only last year
  • not until:a final report reached him only on January 15
  • 3 [with infinitive] with the negative or unfortunate result that:she turned into the car park, only to find her way blocked
  • [with modal] in an inevitable but undesirable way:rebellion will only bring more unhappiness

adjective

[attributive]
  • alone of its or their kind; single or solitary:the only medal we had ever won he was an only child
  • alone deserving consideration:it’s simply the only place to be seen these days

conjunction

informal
  • except that; but:he is still a young man, only he seems older because of his careworn expression the place was like school, only better

Phrases

only just

by a very small margin; almost not:the building survived the earthquake, but only just
very recently: I’d only just arrived back from Paris

only too ——

used to emphasize that something is the case to an extreme or regrettable extent:you should be only too glad to be rid of him

Origin:

Old English ānlic (adjective) (see one, -ly1)

The traditional view is that the adverb only should be placed next to the word or words whose meaning it restricts: I have seen him only once rather than I have only seen him once. The argument for this, a topic which has occupied grammarians for more than 200 years, is that if only is not placed correctly the scope or emphasis is wrong, and could even result in ambiguity. But in normal, everyday English, the impulse is to state only as early as possible in the sentence, generally just before the verb. The result is, in fact, hardly ever ambiguous: few native speakers would be confused by the sentence I have only seen him once, and the supposed ‘logical’ sense often emerges only with further clarification, as in I’ve only seen him once, but I’ve heard him many times.

only in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of only in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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Word of the day

enjambement

/ ɪnˈdʒam(b)m(ə)nt /
noun
(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause …