near
NEAR scores 4 points in Scrabble, shares its letters with EARN, NARE and REAN, and sits one letter from 15 other words.
Adjective 4 meanings
Physically close.
“I can't see near objects very clearly without my glasses.”
Close in time.
“The end is near.”
Closely connected or related.
“The deceased man had no near relatives.”
Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.
“It is a matter of near consequence to me.”
Adverb 2 meanings
At or towards a position close in space or time.
Nearly; almost.
“He was near unconscious when I found him.”
Preposition 3 meanings
Physically close to, in close proximity to.
“There are habitable planets orbiting many of the stars near our Sun.”
Close to in time.
“The voyage was near completion.”
Close to in nature or degree.
“His opinions are near the limit of what is acceptable.”
Verb 1 meaning
To come closer to; to approach.
“The ship nears the land.”
Noun 1 meaning
The left side of a horse or of a team of horses pulling a carriage etc.
Etymology
From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English nēar (“nearer”, comparative of nēah (“nigh”), the superlative would become next), influenced by Old Norse nær (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *nēhw (“near”), from the adjective *nēhwaz, ultimately from Pre-Proto-Germanic *h₂nḗḱwos, a lengthened-grade adjective derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).
Similar and opposite words
NEAR means physically close or close in time, and as a verb it means to approach. A less familiar noun sense names the left side of a horse or team pulling a carriage. At rank 487 with a count of 68,790, it is common, and its neighbours include YEAR, HEAR and FEAR.
NEAR at a glance
- Four letters: N, E, A, R, all worth 1 point.
- Anagrams: EARN, NARE and REAN.
- Fifteen neighbours, including YEAR, HEAR, FEAR, WEAR, DEAR and BEAR.
- Frequency rank 487.
How many words sit one tile from NEAR?
Fifteen. YEAR, HEAR, FEAR, WEAR, DEAR and BEAR show how the -EAR frame carries a swap at the front. Changing the first letter is how most of them arise.
Scores shift with the new tile. YEAR and HEAR each reach 7, because Y and H are worth 4. DEAR reaches 5, and BEAR reaches 6.
Which anagram of NEAR is worth playing?
EARN is the everyday one, and it scores 4 like NEAR. NARE and REAN are rare, so check your game’s word list before trying either.
Because all four share the same tiles, a rack with N, E, A and R gives you flexibility: EARN ends with the N, NEAR starts with it.
For a quick check, NEAR and EARN are the two everyday words of the four, and NARE and REAN are the rarities.
How does NEAR rank in the four-letter list?
Only 167 of 5,577 four-letter words start with N, about 3 percent, and 181 end in R, about 3 percent. The -EAR tail matches YEAR, CLEAR, HEAR, FEAR and WEAR in spelling, though pronunciations differ. That makes NEAR a small slice of the list, but a well-connected one.
The odd one out is the noun sense, the left side of a horse or team pulling a carriage. In a game, though, the everyday meaning is the one that matters.
Rhymes with near
All rhymesOne letter away
Questions people ask
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