Sentence:  The night after reading her letter about her surgeon uncle - it must have been late in September - I had a vision of myself returned in ragged uniform from The Front , <WSD>nearly</WSD> dying , my head bandaged and bloody , and Jessica bending over me , the power of her love bringing me back to life . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but