nary
Americanadjective
adverb
Etymology
Origin of nary
First recorded in 1740–50; variant of ne'er a never a
Explanation
Use the adjective nary to mean "none," or "not a single one." If you hope for a snowy morning, when you wake up you'll be sad to see nary a snowflake. Nary is an old fashioned and informal way to say "not." You might describe your friend's sad, empty book shelves with nary a novel on them, or your bald great uncle, who has nary a hair on his head. The word has been around since the mid-1700s, from never a, which was then shortened to ne'er a, and finally nary.
Vocabulary lists containing nary
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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The Color Purple
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The Mysterious Benedict Society
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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.
He has a trim mustache and beard, yes, but the actor, who spends a significant portion of the play shirtless, has nary a hair on his sharply chiseled chest and big-gun biceps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Madame Pernelle, too, worships at the shrine of Tartuffe, but has nary a good word, and many a bad one, for anyone else.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
And though nary a ghost has been sighted — yet — that doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten all the proof I’ve been looking for.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
On Saturday at the opening night of her Forum stand, Lipa — herself a British-Albanian-Kosovar atelier of sophisticated, structurally flawless disco-pop — played for nearly three hours with nary a sweat broken.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2025
Some peoples cain’ nuss dey baby, and some ain’ got nary baby to nuss.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
