From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishveryve‧ry1 /ˈveri/ ●●● S1 W1 adverb 1 [+adj/adverb]VERY used to emphasize an adjective, adverb, or phrase It feels very cold today. The fishing industry is very important to the area. The traffic’s moving very slowly this morning. problems that are very similar to mine I feel a lot better – thank you very much. I’m very, very (=used for emphasis) pleased you can come. It’s very kind of you to help. My sister and I were married on the very same (=exactly the same) day.the very best/latest/worst etc We only use the very best ingredients.2 → not very good/happy/far etc3 → your very own4 informal used with adjectives to say that the quality something has is very noticeable or typical It was a very male reaction, I thought. His films are always very French.5 → very much so6 → very wellGRAMMAR: Adjectives that already mean ‘very’Some adjectives already mean ‘very’, for example terrible (=very bad), wonderful (=very good), or hilarious (=very funny). Don’t use ‘very’ with these adjectives. Use really or absolutely instead. You say: It was a really terrible experience.I feel absolutely great. ✗Don’t say: It was a very terrible experience. | I feel very great.GRAMMAR: Comparisonvery• You use very with adjectives and adverbs: She is very happy.The train was moving very slowly. very much• You use very much with the comparative form of adjectives: She is very much happier now.I feel very much better.• You use very much with verbs: He very much regrets what happened.Thank you very much.• You use very much with prepositional phrases: The company’s future is very much in doubt. She was very much in demand as a speaker.
Examples from the Corpus
very• "Was it a good movie?" "Yes, very."• Carter went to the very best schools.• I see this very clearly underneath your politeness.• It's very cold outside.• Your house is very different from the way I'd imagined it.• Sid gets embarrassed very easily.• Juan is a very good dancer.• This meeting is very important, so be on time.• I was not stupid, but I was very lazy.• Clearly this is consistent both with a period of about a day and with a very long period.• Olive trees especially may embody the Goddess, for they live a very long time.• These are very much right-brain tasks, involving both that posterior parietal area and a region of frontal lobe.• Only the very old people remembered Albert Porter, and their eyesight was no better than their memory.• He was a very physical person and I recall as a child lying on his chest.• The ambassador made a brief statement, saying that the talks had been very productive.• Everything was happening very quickly, and I don't remember it all.• There is a very real possibility that two stores will have to be closed.• The two brothers died on the very same day.• When I was in high school, I was always very thin.• During our time working together I got to know her very well.the very best/latest/worst etc• The results show an unacceptably wide difference between the performance of the very best and that of the very worst.• The project deserves the very best care and attention.• It would be nice to believe that the Health Secretary spends all his time understanding the very latest developments in heart-lung transplants.• It was one of the very best I've spent in 30 years of climbing round the world.• One can scarcely expect to average more than about eight hours per day even in the very best locations on Earth.• Lew Hoad was the very best player at tennis as well, simultaneously, as the very best sportsman at sportsmanship.• Each hall offers an advanced technical specification and the very latest technology.• Laura had always aspired to the very best within a certain budget; her budget had now expanded.veryvery2 ●●○ S3 W3 adjective [only before noun] EXACTused to emphasize that you are talking exactly about one particular thing or person He died in this very room. I’ll start at the very beginning. Those were his very words. You’d better start doing some work this very minute (=now, not later). That might provoke a riot, the very thing he was trying to avoid. The very fact that you are reading this book suggests you want to improve your fitness. By its very nature, capitalism involves exploitation of the worker. His life’s work was being destroyed before his very eyes (=directly in front of him).the very thought/idea/mention (of something) (=just thinking about or suggesting something) The very thought of food made me feel ill.COLLOCATIONSnounsthe very endTo the very end of his life he remained a controversial figure.the very beginningIt is clear from the very beginning of the play that he is a weak and unpopular ruler.the very heart of somethingThe hotel is located in the very heart of the city.the very fact thatThe very fact that this is their second home means that they are well-off.the/that/this very momentAt that very moment, the doorbell rang.the/that very thingHow can he say that it's wrong, and then go and do that very thing himself?the very nature/essence of somethingAs a travel writer, the very nature of his job meant that he travelled a lot.the very existence of somethingIf the new project fails, it could threaten the very existence of the company.the very idea/thought (=just an idea or suggestion)The very idea of acting on stage scares the pants off me.this/that very reasonI want everyone to be able to cook my recipes, so for that very reason I chose inexperienced cooks to test them. Examples from the Corpus
very• I must have known that those were the very advantages I had been denying myself in denying myself food.• One photograph was of a very beautiful man.• Sandison bought a very fine pale grey hat with a wide, flat brim and a white hatband.• One day we may meet that villain, or the many like him, and have to fight for our very lives.• These were the very qualities required in the political arena.• This is a very straight forward part and shouldn't present any problems.• It was this very vision that drew him to a man with whom he had so little in common besides.the very thought/idea/mention (of something)• My throat hurts again at the very thought!• Indeed, for many the very idea of attaining a political focus has been discarded in favour of a celebration of fragmentation.• But today the very thought of chicken tikka made me want to die.• He rejects, it is true, the very idea of consistency in principle as important for its own sake.• I was paralysed with fear at the very thought of making eye contact with them, let alone playing the teacher.• Finally, the very thought of one more sweet and sticky mouthful would make him sick.• And what enlightened people would not be proud of having originated the very idea of philosophical inquiry?• More than seventy years later, the very mention of Uncle Haywood was still distasteful to Miss Sadie.Origin very2 (1200-1300) Old French verai, from Latin verax “truthful”, from verus “true” 