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Definition of "only" []

  • Alone in kind or class; sole: an only child; the only one left. (adjective)
  • Standing alone by reason of superiority or excellence. (adjective)
  • Without anyone or anything else; alone: room for only one passenger. (adverb)
  • At the very least: If you would only come home. The story was only too true. (adverb)
  • And nothing else or more: I only work here. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "only" in a sentence
  • "Martha only barely concealed her disgust when she said “this is the _only_ cookbook of mine that you have?”"
  • "And the proposition that not only every planet is bright apparently extends a categorical proposition, via the elements indicated with ˜not™ and ˜only™."
  • "An e-mail sent to Hilderbran from DPS states that “only computer forensics officials must be licensed under the Private Security Act” and that those who only retrieve information from computer databases and pass it on to another person are not subject to the new law."