Word.ws English Dictionary

not really

not really adverb: to a low degree, not particularly, not especially.

Adverb

not really (not comparable)

  1. To a low degree, not particularly, not especially.
    • I’m not really hungry now, so let’s have dinner later.
    • A: Are you hungry yet? B: Not really.
  2. Not actually (a hypothetical will not, in fact, come to pass), often rhetorical.
    • You’re not really going to marry him, are you?

Questions about not really

What does not really mean?
Not really means to a low degree, not particularly, not especially.
What part of speech is not really?
Not really is an adverb.

Words near not really in the dictionary

  1. not pays any mind
  2. not proved
  3. not proven
  4. not Pygmalion likely
  5. not quite
  6. not really
  7. not right in the head
  8. not saying much
  9. not see
  10. not see for looking
  11. not see someone for dust

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not really (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-not-really.ogg.

Cite this entry: “not really.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/not_really. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.