very well
919
1.0
- idiom
- /ˈvɛri wɛl/
:
bastante bien
- He'll treat you very well.
- know very well
- work very well
- understand very well
One thing AJ Buckley does very well is the polite laugh.
- One thing AJ Buckley does very well is the polite laugh.
- And that's something that is not very well received.
- And I'll either say, oh, I can't see it very well or it's nice.
- And I think it fits very well now also with that spark.
- Your books are doing very well and you fear success.
- Feels good in the hand, very well laid out.
- NC State's playing very well though, but I don't know.
- So not very well so far, I guess.
- I think that effective altruism is very well suited to that world.
- But this makeup isn't sticking very well to Cher's skin.
- Well, he's done very well by that.
- No, so far, because Jews are very well entrenched in the ruling elite.
Examples
-
Then I sleep very well.
-
Heeding their cautions and encouragement may very well be a step in the right direction.
Academic text (1992) -
Your books are doing very well and you fear success.
-
My father and mother did very well together in China.
-
Anyway, I always said I could manage very well without you.
-
But she is old, and yet she is doing very well in classics.
Fiction book (1991) -
Many students learn to decode very well and can read words with high accuracy.
Academic text (2012) -
Many students learn to decode very well and can read words with high accuracy.
-
Your books are doing very well and you fear success.
-
You're taking it very well, I have to say.
Synonyms
706
1.0
In a good enough way
388
1.0
In a pleasant or attractive way
129
2.2
To a fair degree but not very much
111
1.0
In a very good and impressive way
83
3.0
In a way that is good enough for the task
49
3.8
Very high quality or done very well
20
2.7
In a proper and respectful way
12
3.3
In a very good way that shows great skill
8
2.8
In a very good way that shows a lot of skill
6
2.8
In a very good and successful way
3
4.9
Good enough but not very good
1
4.6
Good enough to do the job but not very good
1
4.9
In a way that is much better than usual and impresses people
1
1.1
In a way that is good enough but not very good
Antonyms
How Well
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense arises from a transparent intensifier + base (very + well → 'very satisfactorily'), so learners who know the constituents can often infer a general positive/accepting stance. However, its conventionalized discourse use as a brief concession or agreement (pragmatic shift from literal quality to 'all right; I agree') is not fully predictable from the parts alone and requires pragmatic familiarity. Because of that partial but clear compositional link, it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Very well comes from adding the small word very meaning 'very much' to well meaning 'in a good way'. Imagine you water a plant well and then do it extra with very; that image shows why the phrase means 'in a way that is quite good or satisfactory'.