Word.ws English Dictionary

nearest and dearest

Syllables: near·est and dear·estUK/ˈnɪəɹɪst(ə)n ˈdɪəɹɪst/US/ˈnɪɹɪst(ə)n ˈdɪɹɪst/

nearest and dearest adjective: closest, most intimate.

nearest and dearest: closest, most intimate
Image: Iaconianni family - Fotoguru.it, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

nearest and dearest (superlative form only)

  1. Closest, most intimate.
    • Petronius calleth this paſſion [i.e., jealousy] amantium furioſam æmulationem, a furious emulation, and their ſymptomes are well expreſſed by Sʳ Ieffrey Chaucer in his firſt Canterbury tale. It will make the neareſt & deareſt friends fall out; they will endure al other things to be common, goods...1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Iealousie, His Equivocations, Name, Definition, Extent, Seuerall Kindes, of Princes, Parents, Friends. In Beasts, Men, before Marriage, as...
    • It was impoſſible that the queen of France [Marie Antoinette] ſhould not be deeply affected by a conteſt, which ſo cloſely involved her neareſt and deareſt connections, and threatened ſo immediate and perhaps irreparable a breach of the harmony and friendſhip ſubſiſting between them.1787, “The History of Europe”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Years 1784 and 1785, volume XXVII, London: Printed by J[ames] Dodsley, in Pall-Mall...

Noun

nearest and dearest pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-only) One's closest and most intimate family members, friends, etc.
    • [W]hile all mourned and honoured the dead, thou hast lived to merit our hate and execration—lived to unite thyself with the vile tyrant who murdered thy nearest and dearest— […]1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XIII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page...
    • Several days passed by, and to all appearance we had quite forgotten our poor old servitor, – so heartless in remembrance is weak humanity to its nearest and dearest, – when, in course of time, it got to be New Year's eve, and we were sitting in our study, awaiting the cook's preparations for...1885, Percival Lowell, “On Hats”, in Chosön: The Land of the Morning Calm: A Sketch of Korea, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Company, →OCLC, page 346

Forms of nearest and dearest

superlativeform only

Origin of nearest and dearest

] The adjective sense appears to predate the noun sense.

Questions about nearest and dearest

What does nearest and dearest mean?
Nearest and dearest means closest, most intimate.
What part of speech is nearest and dearest?
Nearest and dearest can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce nearest and dearest?
Nearest and dearest is pronounced /ˈnɪəɹɪst(ə)n ˈdɪəɹɪst/ (UK).

Words near nearest and dearest in the dictionary

  1. Nearctica
  2. neare
  3. neared
  4. nearer
  5. nearest
  6. nearest and dearest
  7. nearfall
  8. nearfalls
  9. nearfield
  10. nearfields
  11. nearhand

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nearest and dearest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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