anywhere
Americanadverb
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in, at, or to any place.
-
to any extent; to some degree.
Does my answer come anywhere near the right one?
noun
idioms
adverb
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in, at, or to any place
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to be successful
it took three years before he got anywhere
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any quantity, time, degree, etc, above a specified limit
he could be anywhere from 40 to 50 years old
Spelling
See anyplace.
Etymology
Origin of anywhere
1350–1400; Middle English anywher ( e ), aniquar. See any, where
Explanation
The adverb anywhere means "in any location," or "wherever." If you're allowed to pitch your tent anywhere in the campground, it means you can choose any spot you like. When you say, "I can't find the cat anywhere!" it means you've looked every single place you can think of, and you still haven't located your pet. If you win the lottery, you may be overwhelmed by the idea that you can afford to travel anywhere — you can visit any country in the world. English speakers started saying anywhere in the 14th century; earlier, they said owhere or oughwhere.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Griffin, the woman who played Carnegie Hall five times, couldn’t book a show anywhere.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
They're not mentioned anywhere in the latest update from the IOC and World Rowing and they weren't considered in the technical assessment.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
When asked about the Treasury rout Wednesday, Warsh pointed to global “hot spots” and several other factors putting pressure on the “the most important asset anywhere in the world.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Some of the incidents were discovered by internal training run and misalignment monitoring systems, and took anywhere from two days to several months to be noticed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Fred’s legs whirred—he paddled faster and faster, harder and harder —but he couldn’t get anywhere.
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
