Englishfor English speakers
near
Preposition
—
With a small distance between; close.
The end is near.
She lives near me.
The house is near the beach.
near
Adjective
—
Almost
It was a near miss, but the car didn't hit us.
—
Close
The nearest thing to me is my family.
We'll be meeting again in the near future.
near
Verb
—
To come close to, approach.
We neared the beach.
the
Determiner
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Used, instead of a, to reference something specific, already known to exist.
Compare "I read a book." and "I read the book."
—
Used with a stress, to show that the word following is special.
Are you the John Smith that I went to school with?
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Used with an adjective that acts like a noun to mean all of the people concerned
The poor are always with us.
—
Used with superlatives forms of adjectives and adverbs.
You are the best.
Examples near the examples
How do I use near the in a sentence?
News and current affairs
After adjusting for inflation, today's price is nowhere near the all-time high of January 1980.