only
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈəʊn.li/
note: in fast speech
ipa: /ˈəʊn.i/
ipa: /ˈɑːn.li/
ipa: /ˈoʊn.li/
ipa: [ˈoːn.li]
ipa: [ˈɔːn.lɪ]
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈonli/
note: Indic
ipa: /(w)ɵnˈli/
note: "one-ly"
ipa: /ˈwanli/
rhymes: -əʊnli
Forms: form: onely
form: onlie
Etymology: From Middle English oonly, only, from Old English ānlīċ, ǣnlīċ (“only; singular; solitary”), from Proto-Germanic *ainalīkaz, equivalent to one + -ly. Cognate with obsolete Dutch eenlijk, German ähnlich (“similar”), Old Norse álíkr, Swedish enlig (“unified”). Regarding the different phonological development of only and one, see the note in one.
Senses: examples: text: In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
ref: 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:
text: My heart is hers, and hers only.
text: I threw out only him.
text: The cat sat only on the mat. It kept off the sofa.
text: The only scientist to have won three Nobel prizes.
glosses: Without others or anything further; exclusively.
examples: text: To DAD
who only reared twelve children
and
To MOTHER
who reared twelve only children
ref: 1949, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen, dedication
text: ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: […] oot of a' six suspects there's not one that's been proved to ha' been nigh the place where the corpse was found, only Mr Graham.
ref: 1931, Dorothy L Sayers, chapter 24, in The Five Red Herrings:
text: Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.
ref: 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
text: The cat only sat on the mat. It didn't scratch it.
text: If there were only one more ticket!
glosses: No more than; just.
examples: text: c. 1924-1955, anonymous, The Urantia Book
Only yesterday did I feed you with bread for your bodies; today I offer you the bread of life for your hungry souls.
text: The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).
ref: 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
text: He left only moments ago.
glosses: As recently as.
examples: text: It's only fair to let him borrow your kite, after you've had his toys all day.
text: He'd been belittling her for years. It's only natural that she left.
glosses: Emphasizing something that is just or necessary.
examples: text: She's only gone and run off with the milkman!
text: The van said ‘BURT’S BURGERS’ on one side and ‘BURT’S PEST CONTROL’ on the other. Zoe stared at the van. The creepy man was only using the same vehicle for catching rats that he did for frying burgers!
ref: 2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
glosses: Used to express surprise or consternation at an action.
examples: text: They rallied from a three-goal deficit only to lose in the final two minutes of play.
text: I spent years studying a degree only to learn there was no requirement for such a certification.
text: I helped him out only for him to betray me.
text: He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.
ref: 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Introduces a disappointing or surprising outcome that renders futile something previously mentioned.
examples: text: his most only elected mistress
ref: 1604 (date written), Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], Parasitaster, or The Fawne, […], London: […] T[homas] P[urfoot] for W[illiam] C[otton], published 1606, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
glosses: Above all others; particularly.
Derived terms: if and only if
if only
only if
only to