[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

nearly \near"ly\, adv.
   in a near manner; not remotely; closely; intimately; almost;
   as, he nearly lost his life in the accident.
   1913 webster

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

nearly
     adv 1: of actions or states slightly short of or not quite
            accomplished; `near' is sometimes used informally for
            `nearly' and `most' is sometimes used informally for
            `almost'; "the job is just about done"; "the baby
            was almost asleep when the alarm sounded"; "we're
            almost finished"; "the car all but ran her down"; "he
            nearly fainted"; "talked for nigh onto 2 hours"; "the
            recording is well-nigh perfect"; "virtually all the
            parties signed the contract"; "i was near exhausted by
            the run"; "most everyone agrees" syn: about, just
            about, almost, most, all but, near, nigh, virtually,
             well-nigh
     2: in a close manner; "the two phenomena are intimately
        connected"; "the person most nearly concerned" syn: closely,
         intimately
see also:
about just about almost most all but near 
nigh virtually well-nigh closely intimately 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

56 moby thesaurus words for "nearly":
   about, all but, all in all, almost, almost entirely, approaching,
   approximately, around, as good as, barely, by and large, chiefly,
   circa, close, close to, closely, effectually, essentially, exactly,
   hardly, identically, in, in effect, in essence, in the main,
   just about, mainly, more or less, most, mostly, much, narrowly,
   near, nearabout, nearing, nigh, nighhand, not quite, on balance,
   on the whole, only just, plus ou moins, practically, precisely,
   pretty near, roughly, round, roundly, rudely, say, scarcely, some,
   somewhere, substantially, virtually, well-nigh

Nearly >> N Words
Nearly, definition of term: Nearly
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