Virtually

//ˈvɚ.t͡ʃə.wə.li// adv

adv ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    Almost but not quite.

    "With our Medicare supplemental insurance plan, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. (Advertisement)"

  2. 2
    In essence or functionally, but not in fact, formally, or technically.

    "virtually a member of the family"

  3. 3
    Of a subgroup of finite index.

    "In this case W has a diagram with 2 vertices and one edge labelled ∞, and is therefore the infinite dihedral group. Thus W is virtually ℤ."

  4. 4
    Of a covering space of finite degree.

    "Another class of small manifolds consists of those that are not virtually Haken (a manifold is virtually Haken if it is finitely covered by a Haken manifold)."

  5. 5
    By computer or in cyberspace.
Adverb
  1. 1
    (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but wordnet
  2. 2
    in essence or effect but not in fact wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
give or takepracticallyaboutabsolutelyactuallyall in all

Example

More examples

"Unemployment in this part of the country is virtually nonexistent."

Etymology

From Middle English vertually; equivalent to virtual + -ly.

Related phrases

covering spacein essence

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.