əˈ baʊt ˈɔːl.məʊst ˈɔl.moʊst nɪə(ɹ) nɪɹ ˈnɪəli ˈnɪɹli naɪ (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but 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