not nearly

idiom

: much less than : not at all

There's not nearly enough flour for a cake here.

It's not nearly as late as I thought it was.

Examples of not nearly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web That’s not nearly enough to make sunscreen unnecessary. —

Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2024 Black advocates are in agreement following last weekend’s announcement that the state will earmark $12 million over the next year to launch reparations — the money is a good start, but not nearly enough. —

Mathew Miranda, Sacramento Bee, 25 June 2024 The changes should be enough to power the Mountaineers out of the Big 12 cellar but not enough — not nearly enough — to make the program relevant. —

Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 24 June 2024 And although the team was rolling along — the Knicks ended 1993 leading the Atlantic Division with an 18–7 record — my relationship with Checketts was not nearly as smooth. —

New York Daily News, 15 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for not nearly

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'not nearly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.