Meaning & use

nary

determiner·Advanced

Not a single one; used in the phrase 'nary a' to emphasize a complete absence of something.

See it in a sentence

We searched the cabin for hours, but there was nary a sign of the missing hikers.

He finished the marathon with nary a complaint despite the pouring rain.

A note on using this word

Nary is old-fashioned or dialectal and almost always appears in the fixed phrase 'nary a' before a singular noun.

Words with a similar meaning

not a

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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