never

adverb

1. not ever; at no time: Such an idea never occurred to me.
2. not at all; absolutely not: never mind; This will never do.
3. to no extent or degree: He was never the wiser for his experience.

Idioms

4. never mind, don’t bother; don’t concern yourself.

adverb, sentence substitute

1. at no time; not ever
2. certainly not; by no means; in no case

interjection

3. Also: well I never! surely not!

adv.Old English næfre “never,” compound of ne “not, no” (from PIE root *ne- “no, not;” see un-) + æfre “ever” (see ever). Early used as an emphatic form of not (as still in never mind). Old English, unlike its modern descendant, had the useful custom of attaching ne to words to create their negatives, as in nabban for na habban “not to have.” Italian giammai, French jamais, Spanish jamas are from Latin iam “already” + magis “more;” thus literally “at any time, ever,” originally with a negative, but this has been so thoroughly absorbed in sense as to be formally omitted. Phrase never say die “don’t despair” is from 1818. Never Never Land is first attested in Australia as a name for the uninhabited northern part of Queensland (1884), perhaps so called because anyone who had gone there once never wished to return. Meaning “imaginary, illusory or utopian place” first attested 1900 in American English. In addition to the idioms beginning with never

never a dull moment

never fear

never give a sucker an even break

never had it so good, one

never hear the end of

never mind

never miss a trick

never put off until tomorrow

never say die

never say never

also see:

better late than never

it never rains but it pours

lightning never strikes twice

now or never

watched pot never boils

wonders will never cease

you never can tell