Meanings
adverbwellnigh (not comparable)
- alternativenot comparableAlternative spelling of well-nigh.
[…] Huck’s confidence in the human race was wellnigh obliterated.
1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC2 more examples
Athens especially never forgave the defection which had wellnigh involved her in hopeless ruin.
1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, page 161Five years ago the officers determined to build a new mess. There was only one objection to the fulfilment of this wish: the regimental coffers were wellnigh empty.
1910, Erwin Rosen [pseudonym; Erwin Carlé], “A Hundred Thousand Heroes—A Hundred Thousand Victims”, in In the Foreign Legion, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, page 137
Cite this entry
APA
wellnigh. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wellnigh
MLA
“wellnigh.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wellnigh. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wellnigh,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wellnigh.
Source: wellnigh on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.