never

The word “never” means at no time; not on any occasion. In plain terms, not ever, at no point in time.

“Never” is pronounced NEHV-uh (/ˈnɛv.ɚ/ in IPA).

Here is “never” used in a sentence: “I have never been to Japan.”

Words with a similar meaning to “never” include at latter Lammas, at no time, in the reign of Queen Dick, ne'er, never ever and not while pussy's a cat.

The opposite of “never” — its antonyms — are all the time, always, consistently, constantly and continually.

“Never” is an adverb.

The word “never” comes from Old English. From Old English nǣfre, formed from ne ("not") plus ǣfre ("ever").

“Never” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

'Never' means at no time and is itself negative, as in 'I never eat meat.' 'Ever' means at any time and appears mainly in questions and negatives, as in 'Have you ever been?' or 'nobody ever calls.' Using both together, as in 'not ever,' also means never, just more emphatically.

The direct opposite is 'always,' meaning at all times or on every occasion. 'Never' sits at one end of a scale of frequency and 'always' at the other, with words like 'sometimes,' 'often,' and 'rarely' in between. 'Ever' and 'at any time' also contrast with 'never.'

In standard English, avoid pairing 'never' with another negative like 'don't' or 'no.' 'I didn't see nothing' should be 'I never saw anything' or 'I saw nothing.' Double negatives such as 'don't never' are common in casual or dialect speech but are considered nonstandard in formal writing.

'She never arrives late' means it does not happen on any occasion. 'I have never seen the sea' points to no time in the past up to now. 'We will never forget' stresses that something will not happen at any future point. 'Never' firmly rules out every occasion.