ever

English

Alternative forms

• euer (obsolete)
• e'er, ev'r (poetic)
• eva, evah, eva', evuh, iver, ivver (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English ever, from Old English ǣfre, originally a phrase whose first element undoubtedly consists of Old English ā (“ever, always”) + in (“in”) + an element possibly from feorh (“life, existence”) (dative fēore). Compare Old English ā tō fēore (“ever in life”), Old English feorhlīf (“life”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛvə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛvɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ev‧er

Adverb

ever (not comparable)

1. (formal or archaic) Always, frequently, forever.

   It was ever thus.

   • 1592, George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, An Advertisement […] concerning Seminary Priests:

     […] the Lord Treasurer, who ever secretly feigned himself to be a Moderator and Mollifier of the Catholicks Afflictions […]

   • 1860, Florence Nightingale, Suggestions for Thought to the searchers after truth among the artizans of England., page 302:

     Let us ever remember that our conception, our comprehension, our feeling of God must be ever imperfect, yet should be ever advancing. We must not make God: we must find Him and feel Him more and more.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

   • 1993, Nancy K. Florida, Javanese Literature in Surakarta Manuscripts: Introduction and manuscripts of the Karaton Surakarta, SEAP Publications, →ISBN, page 9:

     The library staffs of the Karaton Surakarta's Sasana Pustaka, the Mangku- nagaran's Reksa Pustaka, and the Museum Radyapustaka were ever helpful and generous with their time.

   • 2007, Roman Frydman, Michael D. Goldberg, Imperfect Knowledge Economics: Exchange Rates and Risk, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

     As with the rest of macroeconomics, the issues have to be rethought in a way that makes the ever-imperfect knowledge of market participants and policymakers an integral part of the analysis.

   • 2021 September 8, Phil McNulty, “Poland 1-1 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Kane picked up the ball 25 yards out with 18 minutes left before proving he is ever the opportunist by flashing a dipping swerving drive beyond the deceived Szczesny.

2. Continuously, constantly, all the time (for the complete duration).

   People struggled to cope with the ever-increasing cost of living.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 4, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 29:

     For what seemed ages piled on ages, I lay there, frozen with the most awful fears, not daring to drag away my hand; yet ever thinking that if I could but stir it one single inch, the horrid spell would be broken.

3. At any time.

   We've only ever talked on the phone.

   I scarcely ever see you anymore!.

   If that ever happens, we’re in deep trouble.

   This is one of the best movies ever.

   He's back and better than ever.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

   • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎^[2], archived from the original on 7 February 2019:

     He said the study provides clear evidence that AI technologies are growing at a faster rate than ever and will continue to do so.

     Audio (US):

     (file)

4. (informal) As intensifier following an interrogative word.

   Was I ever glad to see you!

   Did I ever!

Synonyms

• (always): See Thesaurus:forever
• (at any time):
• (in any way):
• (intensifier): See Thesaurus:the dickens

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “always”): See Thesaurus:never

Hyponyms

• forever
• however
• whatever
• whatsoever
• whenever
• whichever
• whoever

 

Derived terms

• as ever
• as ever trod shoe-leather
• as ever trod shoe leather
• e'er
• ever after
• ever and again
• ever and anon
• ever and ever
• ever-burning
• ever-busy
• everchanging, ever-changing
• ever-damned
• evergreen
• ever-growing, evergrowing
• everlasting
• everloving
• ever-loving
• ever-more
• ever-moving
• ever-present
• evershifting, ever-shifting
• ever since
• ever-smoker
• ever smoker
• ever so
• ever-varying
• ever-watchful
• every
• for ever
• for ever and ever
• forever and ever
• for ever more
• greatest story ever told
• happily ever after
• happily-ever-after
• happy ever after
• if ever
• if ever there was one
• if I ever saw one
• may the odds be ever in your favor
• never ever
• never ever have I
• never have I ever
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American people
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American public
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people
• nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public
• no good deed ever goes unpunished
• no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public
• no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people
• no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public
• ready as I'll ever be
• said no one ever
• seldom or ever
• that ever walked on two legs
• what-so-ever
• yours ever

 

Descendants

• → German: ever

Translations

always

• Armenian: միշտ (hy) (mišt)
• Bulgarian: ви́наги (bg) (vínagi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 總是／总是 (zh) (zǒngshì)

• Danish: altid (da), immer (da), idelig
• Dutch: ooit (nl), altijd (nl), steeds (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉiam (eo)
• Estonian: kunagi
• Finnish: aina (fi)
• French: toujours (fr)
• German: immer (de), stets (de), ewig (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍅 (aiw)
• Greek: πάντα (el) (pánta), πάντοτε (el) (pántote)
• Hungarian: mindig (hu), folyton (hu)
• Japanese: ずっと (ja) (zutto), いつも (ja) (itsumo)
• Korean: 이제까지 (ijekkaji), 늘 (ko) (neul), 항상 (ko) (hangsang), 언제나 (ko) (eonjena)
• Latin: semper (la)
• Norwegian: støtt, stadig
• Persian: همیشه (fa) (hamiše)
• Polish: zawsze (pl)
• Portuguese: sempre (pt)
• Russian: всегда́ (ru) (vsegdá)
• Serbo-Croatian: uvijek (sh)
• Spanish: siempre (es)
• Swedish: alltid (sv)
• Turkish: hep (tr), her zaman (tr), ebediyen (tr)
• Ukrainian: завжди́ (uk) (zavždý)
• Vietnamese: bao giờ (vi)
• Welsh: bob amser, yn wastad
• West Frisian: jimmer

continuously, constantly, all the time

• Esperanto: ĉiam (eo)
• Hungarian: egyre (hu), folyton (hu), egyre csak, örökké (hu)
• Polish: coraz (pl), stale (pl)

at any time

• Arabic: يَوْمًا (yawman)
• Armenian: երբևիցե (hy) (erbewicʻe)
• Basque: inoiz (eu), noizbait (eu)
• Bulgarian: когато и да е (kogato i da e)
• Catalan: mai (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 曾經／曾经 (zh) (céngjīng)

• Czech: někdy (cs)
• Dutch: ooit (nl)
• Esperanto: iam (eo), iam ajn
• Finnish: ikinä (fi), koskaan (fi)
• French: jamais (fr)
• Georgian: ოდესმე (odesme)
• German: jemals (de), je (de)
• Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐌽𐌷𐌿𐌽 (ƕanhun)
• Greek: ποτέ (el) (poté)

  Ancient: πώποτε (pṓpote)

• Hungarian: valaha (hu), valamikor (hu), akármikor (hu)
• Interlingua: jammais, unquam
• Italian: mai (it)
• Japanese: いつか (ja) (itsuka)
• Korean: 언제든 (ko) (eonjedeun)
• Latin: umquam, unquam, numcubi
• Latvian: jebkad
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: noensinne (no)

  Nynorsk: nokosinne

• Plautdietsch: jeemols
• Polish: kiedykolwiek (pl)
• Portuguese: alguma vez, de sempre
• Russian: когда́-либо (ru) (kogdá-libo)
• Scottish Gaelic: riamh
• Serbo-Croatian: ikad (sh)
• Slovene: kdàj (sl)
• Spanish: alguna vez, jamás (es)
• Swedish: någonsin (sv)
• Turkish: hiç (tr)
• Ukrainian: коли́-не́будь (kolý-nébudʹ)
• Vietnamese: bao giờ (vi)
• Welsh: byth (present and future), erioed (past)
• West Frisian: ea

in any way

• Esperanto: iel ajn
• Finnish: ikinä (fi), koskaan (fi)
• Hungarian: valahogyan (hu), akárhogyan (hu)

intensifier following an interrogative word

• Hungarian: nagyon (hu), igazán (hu), igen (hu), bizony (hu), ám (hu)

Adjective

ever (not comparable)

1. (epidemiology) Occurring at any time, occurring even but once during a timespan.
   • 1965, Reuben Hill, The family and population control: a Puerto Rican experiment in social change:

     This family empathy measure is highly related to ever use of birth control but not to any measure of continuous use.

Determiner

ever

1. (dialectal and informal) Shortening of every
   • 1989, Connie Jordan Green, The War at Home, page 16:

     "Ever place you look there's houses and more houses."

   • 2011, Lee Smith, Oral History, →ISBN:

     Queen Anne's lace ever place you look.

   • 2011, Michael Blair, Nub and Bow in History, page 27:

     A sign at the entrance to the road going up Snake Hollow reads, “Snake Hollow is a wonderful place to be, Ever place you look there is a beautiful green tree. Snake Hollow makes you feel alive and free.” Lets keep it that way, for you and me.

References

• “ever”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Vere, veer

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch ēver, from Old Dutch *evur, from Proto-West Germanic *ebur. Cognate with Latin aper, Proto-Slavic *veprь (“wild boar”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeː.vər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ever
• Rhymes: -eːvər

Noun

ever m (plural evers, diminutive evertje n)

1. wild boar, Sus scrofa

   Synonyms: everzwijn, wild zwijn

Derived terms

• everjong
• everzwijn

 

Related terms

• Evert

 

Anagrams

• erve, veer, vere, vree

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English ever.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛvɐ/

Adverb

ever

1. (colloquial, originally youth slang) ever (with superlative)

   Synonym: aller Zeiten

   Das war das geilste Konzert ever.

   That was the greatest concert ever.

   • 2023 December 28, Florian Bayer, “Größte Pleite ever in Österreich”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Signa-Immobiliengesellschaften insolvent: Größte Pleite ever in Österreich [title]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “ever” in Duden online

Middle English

Alternative forms

• evre, evir, afre, er, are

Etymology

From Old English ǣfre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛːvər/, /ˈɛvər/

Adverb

ever

1. ever

Descendants

• English: ever
• Scots: evire, evir
• Yola: eyver, e'er, ere

References

• “ē̆ver, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

ever

1. present of eve

Anagrams

• ever, reve, veer

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• evor (non-standard since 2012)

Noun

ever f

1. indefinite plural of eve
2. indefinite plural of eva (non-standard since 2012)

Anagrams

• erve, ever, reve, vere