Definition of only

"only" in the adjective sense

1. lone, lonesome, only, sole, solitary

being the only one single and isolated from others

"the lone doctor in the entire county"

"a lonesome pine"

"an only child"

"the sole heir"

"the sole example"

"a solitary instance of cowardice"

"a solitary speck in the sky"

2. alone, only

exclusive of anyone or anything else

"she alone believed him"

"cannot live by bread alone"

"I'll have this car and this car only"

"only" in the adverb sense

1. merely, simply, just, only, but

and nothing more

"I was merely asking"

"it is simply a matter of time"

"just a scratch"

"he was only a child"

"hopes that last but a moment"

2. entirely, exclusively, solely, alone, only

without any others being included or involved

"was entirely to blame"

"a school devoted entirely to the needs of problem children"

"he works for Mr. Smith exclusively"

"did it solely for money"

"the burden of proof rests on the prosecution alone"

"a privilege granted only to him"

3. only

with nevertheless the final result

"He arrived only to find his wife dead"

"We won only to lose again in the next round"

4. only

in the final outcome

"These news will only make you more upset"

5. only

except that only this time she came out better"

"It was the same story

6. only, only if, only when

never except when

"call me only if your cold gets worse"

7. only

as recently as

"I spoke to him only an hour ago"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


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Quotations for only

The only infallible judge. [ Hosea Ballou ]

Her tears her only eloquence. [ Rogers ]

Envy feeds only on the living. [ Ovid ]

A book is the only immortality. [ Rufus Choate ]

We can only obey our own polarity. [ Emerson ]

The brave only know how to forgive. [ Sterne ]

Education is only second to nature. [ Horace Bushnell ]

Calumny is only the noise of madmen. [ Diogenes ]

Freedom is only in the land of dreams. [ Schiller ]

Apology is only egotism wrong side out. [ O. W. Holmes ]

Only so much do I know as I have lived. [ Emerson ]

Oh, only a free soul will never grow old! [ Jean Paul Richter ]

The true artist can only labor con amore. [ Victor Hugo ]

Necessity is the only successful adviser. [ Charles Reade ]

Death has left on her only the beautiful. [ Hood ]

Blood only serves to wash Ambition's hands. [ Byron ]

The world knows only two, that's Home and I. [ Ben Jonson ]

Experience is the only prophecy of wise men. [ Lamartine ]

There is properly no history, only biography. [ Emerson ]

Your little child is your only true democrat. [ Mrs. Stowe ]

There is only one proof of ability, - action. [ Marie Ebner-Eschenbach ]

Some books are only cursorily to be tasted of. [ Fuller ]

Assassination makes only martyrs, not converts. [ Lamartine ]

Many receive advice, only the wise profit by it. [ Publius Syrus ]

Years do not make sages; they only make old men. [ Madame Swetchine ]

One triumphs over calumny only by disdaining it. [ Mme. de Maintenon ]

Flattery is like a painted armor; only for show. [ Socrates ]

The real beggar is indeed the true and only king. [ Lessing ]

Contempt is the only way to triumph over calumny. [ Madame de Maintenon ]

It is only in little matters that men are cowards. [ W. H. Herbert ]

One expresses well only the love he does not feel. [ A. Karr ]

Those only are despicable who fear to be despised. [ La Rochefoucauld ]

He only is exempt from failures who makes no efforts. [ Whately ]

Experience is our only teacher both in war and peace. [ Landor ]

Avarice is only prudence and economy pushed to excess. [ Cbattield ]

You do not believe, you only believe that you believe. [ Coleridge ]

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present. [ Johnson ]

The only disadvantage of an honest heart is credulity. [ Sir P. Sidney ]

The present is the only reality and the only certainty. [ Arthur Schopenhauer ]

Egotists cannot converse, they talk to themselves only. [ A. Bronson Alcott ]

There is no end of affection taken in at the eyes only. [ Steele ]

It is only by loving a thing that you can make it yours. [ George Macdonald ]

Dirt is not dirt, but only something in the wrong place. [ Lord Palmerston ]

Some men by ancestry are only the shadow of a mighty name. [ Lucan ]

What is death, after all? We leave only mortals behind us. [ Ninon de Lenclos ]

It is only dislocated minds whose movements are spasmodic. [ Willmott ]

The architect must not only understand drawing, but music. [ Vitruvius ]

We only see clearly when we have reached the depths of woe. [ Ouida ]

He who was taught only by himself, had a fool for a master. [ Ben Jonson ]

Fools are apt to imitate only the defects of their betters. [ Swift ]

Man is only what he becomes, but he becomes only what he is. [ Amiel ]

Apologies only account for the evil which they cannot alter. [ Disraeli ]

Fortune dreads the brave, and is only terrible to the coward. [ Seneca ]

He only half dies who leaves an image of himself in his sons. [ GoldonL  ]

The world is only saved by the breath of the school children. [ Talmud ]

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it. [ Martial ]

Drink to me only with thine eyes, and I will pledge with mine. [ Ben Jonson ]

They only fall that strive to move, or lose that care to keep. [ Owen Meredith ]

The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that costs. [ Mme. du Deffand ]

The ancients dreaded death: the Christian can only fear dying. [ J. C. and A. W. Hare ]

Doing good is the only certainly happy action of a man's life. [ Sir P. Sidney ]

We rise to fortune by successive steps; we descend by only one. [ Stanislaus ]

All power appears only in transition. Permanent power is stuff. [ Novalis ]

It is only the educated who can produce or appreciate high art. [ Marguerite de Valois ]

The only medicine which does women more good than harm is dress. [ Richter ]

We easily forget those faults which are known only to ourselves. [ La Rochefoucauld ]

That only is a disgrace to a man which he has deserved to suffer. [ Phaedrus ]

Large charity doth never soil, but only whitens soft white hands. [ Lowell ]

He who is only just is stern; he who is only wise lives in gloom. [ Voltaire ]

Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended. [ Rochefoucauld ]

Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust. [ James Shirley ]

Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it a charm. [ Richter ]

The miller imagines that the corn grows only to make his mill turn. [ Goethe ]

It is but poor eloquence which only shows that the orator can talk. [ Sir Joshua Reynolds ]

We are to seek wisdom and understanding only in the length of days. [ Robert Hall ]

Discouragement seizes us only when we can no longer count on chance. [ George Sand ]

He is a hard man who is only just, and he a sad man who is only wise. [ Voltaire ]

Distress is virtue's opportunity: we only live to teach us how to die. [ Southern ]

Theories are very thin and unsubstantial; experience only is tangible. [ Hosea Ballou ]

We are often prophets to others only because we are our own historians. [ Mme. Swetchine ]

All men are fools, and with every effort they differ only in the degree. [ Boileau ]

It is the nature of experience to come to us only when too late for use. [ Mme. de Rieux ]

The earnestness of life is the only passport to the satisfaction of life. [ Theodore Parker ]

Characters never change. Opinions alter, - characters are only developed. [ Disraeli ]

All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books. [ Voltaire ]

Thirst teaches all animals to drink, but drunkenness belongs only to man. [ Fielding ]

Duty only frowns when you flee from it; follow it, and it smiles upon you. [ Elizabeth, Queen of Roumania ]

Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark all is deluge. [ Horace Mann ]

The only true method of action in this world is to be in it, but not of it. [ Madame Swetchine ]

The writings of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander. [ Landor ]

We know accurately only when we know little; with knowledge doubt increases. [ Goethe ]

Children will grow up substantially what they are by nature - and only that. [ Mrs. H. B. Stowe ]

Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends. [ Plutarch ]

It is only to those who have never lived that death ever can seem beautiful. [ Ouida ]

We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse. [ Madame Swetchine ]

Violence in the voice is often only the death-rattle of reason in the throat. [ J. F. Boyes ]

Education is only like good culture, - it changes the size, but not the sort. [ Henry Ward Beecher ]

Whatever fortune has raised to a height, she has raised only that it may fall. [ Seneca ]

The eyes of our souls only then begin to see when our bodily eyes are closing. [ William Law ]

Falsehoods not only disagree with truths, but usually quarrel among themselves. [ Daniel Webster ]

There are some errors so sweet that we repent them only to bring them to memory. [ J. Petit-Senn ]

only in Scrabble®

The word only is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 7

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Play In The Letters only:

ONLY
(33)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word only

ONLY
(33)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(22)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(15)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(11)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(8)
ONLY
(8)
ONLY
(8)
ONLY
(7)

The 55 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In only

ONLY
(33)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(22)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(21)
ONLY
(21)
YON
(18)
YON
(18)
YON
(18)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(15)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
YON
(14)
ONLY
(14)
YON
(12)
YON
(12)
YON
(12)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(11)
YON
(11)
YON
(10)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(9)
YON
(8)
YON
(8)
ONLY
(8)
ONLY
(8)
ONLY
(8)
ONLY
(7)
YON
(7)
YON
(7)
ON
(6)
NO
(6)
NO
(6)
ON
(6)
YON
(6)
ON
(4)
NO
(4)
ON
(4)
NO
(4)
NO
(4)
ON
(4)
ON
(4)
NO
(4)
NO
(3)
NO
(3)
ON
(3)
ON
(3)
ON
(2)
NO
(2)

only in Words With Friends™

The word only is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 8

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Play In The Letters only:

ONLY
(42)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word only

ONLY
(42)
ONLY
(30)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(22)
ONLY
(18)
ONLY
(18)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(13)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(11)
ONLY
(11)
ONLY
(10)
ONLY
(10)
ONLY
(10)
ONLY
(9)
ONLY
(8)

The 59 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In only

ONLY
(42)
ONLY
(30)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(24)
ONLY
(22)
ONLY
(18)
ONLY
(18)
YON
(18)
YON
(18)
YON
(18)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(16)
YON
(16)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(16)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(14)
ONLY
(13)
YON
(12)
YON
(12)
ONLY
(12)
YON
(12)
YON
(12)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(12)
ONLY
(11)
YON
(11)
ONLY
(11)
ONLY
(10)
ONLY
(10)
YON
(10)
ONLY
(10)
NO
(9)
YON
(9)
NO
(9)
ON
(9)
ONLY
(9)
ON
(9)
YON
(8)
ONLY
(8)
YON
(8)
ON
(7)
YON
(7)
NO
(7)
NO
(6)
ON
(6)
ON
(6)
YON
(6)
NO
(6)
NO
(5)
ON
(5)
NO
(5)
ON
(5)
ON
(4)
NO
(4)
ON
(3)
NO
(3)

Words within the letters of only

2 letter words in only (2 words)

3 letter words in only (1 word)

4 letter words in only (1 word)

only + 1 blank (4 words)

Words containing the sequence only

Words that start with only (1 word)

Word Growth involving only

Shorter words in only

on

Longer words containing only

commonly uncommonly

curmudgeonly

lionly

matronly

nonlymphocytic

nonlymphoid

nonlymphoproliferative

nonlyric nonlyrical

nonlysed

nonlysogenic

nonlysosomal

nonlytic

readonly

seasonly

wantonly

writeonly