Sentence:  Times Square , when I ascended to it with my fellow subway travellers ( all dressed as if for a huge wedding in a family of which we were all distant members ) , was <WSD>nearly</WSD> impassable , the sidewalks swarming with celebrants , with bundled up sailors and soldiers already hugging their girls and their rationed bottles of whiskey . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but