nary

[ nair-ee ]

adjective

, Older Use.

1. not any; no; never a:

   nary a sound.

nary

/ ˈnɛərɪ /

adverb

1. dialect.
   not; never

   nary a man was left

Word History and Origins

Origin of nary¹

First recorded in 1740–50; variant of ne'er a never a

Word History and Origins

Origin of nary¹

C19: variant of ne'er a never a

Example Sentences

While other celebrities cloistered on Long Island, posting nary a selfie, Cooper celebrated the Fourth of July at the vacation hotspot by documenting every bar hop and hangover on social media.

From Time

The hot tubs remain closed for covid restrictions, but otherwise business is back with nary a shrug — with a healthy dose of sanitizing and disinfecting.

From Washington Post

The aroma of fresh coffee perfumes the air as clusters of workers huddle in the lobby, with nary a face mask in sight.

From Quartz

With the pressing need to keep citizens up-to-date, most authorities rely on simple text messages to just tell everyone in, say, an entire county to evacuate, with nary more detail.

From TechCrunch

If you search through the SEC database for “DoorDash Inc,” you will find nary a Form D filing for any of the company’s 11 venture rounds that Crunchbase identifies.

From TechCrunch

Venetians sip their coffee in quiet squares and walk their dogs along the waterfront with nary a tourist in sight.

From The Daily Beast

I remember my early years as full of excitement, friends, and adventure, nary an iron bar in sight.

From The Daily Beast

Marshall himself would have nary a cross word for Dixie of course.

From The Daily Beast

This, of course, contradicted years of NFL statements, and there has been nary a peep since.

From The Daily Beast

It is, in short, the same old dog-eared Republican playbook with nary an acknowledgement that Obama just won reelection.

From The Daily Beast

But this mornin' I got a chance to size up the whole bunch, and nary one uh them jaspers I wanted t' see was in sight.

From Project Gutenberg

He started out as a mere or'nary politician, but the Democratic Boss took him up and his ambitions are growing.

From Project Gutenberg

I ain't kickin', you understand, nary bit; but onct in a dog's age I kind of hankers fer a decent look from one of 'em.

From Project Gutenberg

They want to run away from their master, but they hain't nary idee whar to go when they run away.

From Project Gutenberg

I sees yu a flinging de whoop now, but taint ober nary wun ob ole Mars Jon's mules, dat it taint.

From Project Gutenberg