if anything
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪf ˈɛnɪθɪŋ/
ipa: /-ni-/
ipa: /ɪf ˈɛniθɪŋ/
Senses: examples: text: The situation is, if anything, worsening rather than improving.
text: “Do you think she’s tall?” / “Oh, no. If anything, she’s short.”
text: “Do you think she’s tall?” / “Oh, yes. If anything, she’s very tall.”
text: She [a girl who had her left tibia removed] is quite upright, has no defect either of ſtrength or motion in her leg, and ſcarcely any deformity; if any thing, 'tis a ſmall matter bigger than the other juſt above the ankle, occaſioned by the exuberance of the callus, by which the remains of the tibia are conſolidated with the fibula; […]
ref: 1754 December 18, J. Ready, “Mr Urban, I Send You a Remarkable Case in Surgery, with the Bone Itself that Came Away; …”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XXV, London: Printed by D[avid] Henry and R. Cave, at St John's Gate, published January 1755, →OCLC, page 14, column 2:
text: My sensitivity to the crystals has, if anything, increased. I have to spend a great deal of energy just keeping myself together, because my impulse is to blast the damn things to flinders.
ref: 1997 September, Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Shadow Matrix (DAW Book Collectors; no. 1065), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →ISBN; republished as The Shadow Matrix: A Novel of Darkover, New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, 1999, →ISBN:
text: "Then Lieutenant Pullman didn't express uncertainties about any aspect of his primary responsibility or of his other duties onboard the ship?" / "No. If anything, he acted like he was bored by instruction and training. As if he already knew everything. You know the type."
ref: 2006 January, John G. Hemry, Against All Enemies: A Paul Sinclair Novel, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 243:
glosses: Used to suggest or state tentatively that something may be the case (often the opposite of something previously implied).
examples: text: What can you tell me, if anything, about this book?
text: Question. What, if anything, did the Indians say respecting their ability to procure the white captives then in possession of the Sioux? Answer. That they thought it would be difficult to do so, […]
ref: 1865 March 1, “Proceedings of a Military Commission Convened by Special Orders No. 23, Headquarters District of Colorado, Denver, Colorado Territory, Dated February 1, 1865, in the Case of Colonel J[ohn] M[ilton] Chivington, First Colorado Cavalry”, in Report of the Secretary of War, Communicating, in Compliance with a Resolution of the Senate of February 4, 1867, a Copy of the Evidence Taken at Denver and Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, by a Military Commission, Ordered to Inquire into the Sand Creek massacre, November 1864 (39th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Executive Document; no. 26), volume 2, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1867, →OCLC, page 58:
text: What are values in the first place? What, if anything, make value judgments correct or incorrect?
ref: 2009, Christopher Robichaud, “Bright Colors, Dark Times”, in Ben Dyer, editor, Supervillans and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil is Its Own Reward (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 42), Chicago; La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, →ISBN, phase 2 (The Nature of Evil), page 62:
glosses: Used in questions when the speaker does not know for sure if the listener will have an answer.
Synonyms: sense: the opposite may be the case
word: on the contrary