well
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɛl/
note: Dublin
ipa: /wɛl/
ipa: /wel/
ipa: /wəl/
ipa: [wɫ̩]
ipa: /wiːl/
ipa: /weɪ/
rhymes: -ɛl
homophone: wool (interjection or unstressed, some accents)
Forms: form: wall
form: weel
form: weil
form: welp
Etymology: From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *wala (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“wish, desire”).
Cognate with Scots wele, weil (“well”), North Frisian wel, weil, wal (“well”), West Frisian wol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), Low German wol (“well”), German wohl (“well”), Norwegian and Danish vel (“well”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vel, val (“well”). Related to will.
Senses: examples: text: “So, what have you been doing?” “Well, we went for a picnic; and then it started raining, so we came home early.”
text: Well, I am sorry. — It’s okay, Anna.
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: Used as a discourse marker.
examples: text: “The car is broken.” “Well, we could walk to the movies instead.”
text: “I didn't like the music.” “Well, I thought it was good.”
text: I forgot to pack the tent! Well, I guess we’re sleeping under the stars tonight.
text: “Well,” I says, “I cal’late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: If gold pleased the conqueror, well,
That gold should be the one thing
The conqueror henceforth should lack.
ref: 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:
glosses: Used as a discourse marker.
Used as a hedge.
examples: text: “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: It was a bit... well, too loud.
glosses: Used as a discourse marker.
Expressing reluctance to say something.
examples: text: Well, well, well, what do we have here?
glosses: An exclamation of sarcastic surprise (often doubled or tripled and in a lowering intonation).
examples: text: Well! There was no need to say that in front of my mother!
glosses: An exclamation of indignance.
examples: text: Well, lads? How's things?
glosses: Used as a greeting, short for "Are you well?"
examples: text: And what do you think you're doing? ... Well?
glosses: Used as a question to demand an answer from someone.
Synonyms: sense: reluctance
word: like
sense: reluctance
word: you know
sense: filled pause
word: I mean
sense: filled pause
word: like
sense: acknowledgment of previous statement
word: so
sense: indignant
word: see
sense: indignant
word: look
sense: indignant
word: as if
Derived terms: ah well
ja well no fine
oh well
very well
well aye
well duh
welp