4 ADV You can also use any to emphasize a comparative adjective or adverb in a negative statement. [EMPHASIS ] □ I can't see things getting any easier for graduates.
5 PHRASE If you say that someone or something is not just any person or thing, you mean that they are special in some way. □ It's fashionable for young people to wear trainers, but not just any trainers.
6 PHRASE If something does not happen or is not true any more or any longer , it has stopped happening or is no longer true. □ I don't want to see her any more. □ I couldn't keep the tears hidden any longer.
7 in any case → see case ➊
8 by any chance → see chance
9 in any event → see event
10 not by any means → see means
11 any old → see old
12 at any rate → see rate
any|body ◆◇◇ /e nibɒdi/ PRON Anybody means the same as anyone .
any|how /e nihaʊ/
1 ADV Anyhow means the same as anyway .
2 ADV [ADV after v] If you do something anyhow , you do it in a careless or untidy way. □ …her long legs which she displayed all anyhow getting in and out of her car.
any|more /e nimɔː r / In British English, the spelling anymore is sometimes considered incorrect, and any more is used instead. ADV [ADV after v] If something does not happen or is not true anymore , it has stopped happening or is no longer true. □ I don't ride my motorbike much anymore. □ I couldn't trust him anymore.
any|one ◆◆◇ /e niwʌn/ or anybody
1 PRON You use anyone or anybody in statements with negative meaning to indicate in a general way that nobody is present or involved in an action. □ You needn't talk to anyone if you don't want to. □ He was far too scared to tell anybody.
2 PRON You use anyone or anybody in questions and conditional clauses to ask or talk about whether someone is present or doing something. □ Why would anyone want that job? □ If anyone deserves to be happy, you do.
3 PRON You use anyone or anybody before words which indicate the kind of person you are talking about. □ It's not a job for anyone who is slow with numbers. □ Anybody interested in pop culture at all should buy this movie.
4 PRON You use anyone or anybody to refer to a person when you are emphasizing that it could be any person out of a very large number of people. [EMPHASIS ] □ Anyone could be doing what I'm doing.
5 PHRASE You use anyone who is anyone and anybody who is anybody to refer to people who are important or influential.
any|place /e niple I s/ ADV [ADV after v] Anyplace means the same as anywhere . [AM , INFORMAL ] □ She didn't have anyplace to go.
any|thing ◆◆◆ /e n I θ I ŋ/
1 PRON You use anything in statements with negative meaning to indicate in a general way that nothing is present or that an action or event does not or cannot happen. □ We can't do anything. □ She couldn't see or hear anything at all. □ By the time I get home, I'm too tired to do anything active.
2 PRON You use anything in questions and conditional clauses to ask or talk about whether something is present or happening. □ What happened, is anything wrong? □ Did you find anything? □ Is there anything you can do to help?
3 PRON You can use anything before words which indicate the kind of thing you are talking about. □ More than anything else, he wanted to become a teacher. □ Anything that's cheap this year will be even cheaper next year.
4 PRON You use anything to emphasize a possible thing, event, or situation, when you are saying that it could be any one of a very large number of things. [EMPHASIS ] □ He is young, fresh, and ready for anything. □ At that point, anything could happen.
5 PRON You use anything in expressions such as anything near , anything close to and anything like to emphasize a statement that you are making. [EMPHASIS ] □ The only way he can live anything near a normal life is to have an operation.
6 PRON When you do not want to be exact, you use anything to talk about a particular range of things or quantities. □ The cows produce anything from 25 to 40 litres of milk per day.
7 PHRASE You use anything but in expressions such as anything but quiet and anything but attractive to emphasize that something is not the case. [EMPHASIS ] □ There's no evidence that he told anyone to say anything but the truth.
8 PHRASE You can say that you would not do something for anything to emphasize that you definitely would not want to do or be a particular thing. [INFORMAL , SPOKEN , EMPHASIS ] □ I wouldn't want to move for anything in the world.
9 PHRASE You use if anything , especially after a negative statement, to introduce a statement that adds to what you have just said. □ I never had to clean up after him. If anything, he did most of the cleaning.
10 PHRASE You can add or anything to the end of a clause or sentence in order to refer vaguely to other things that are or may be similar to what has just been mentioned. [INFORMAL , SPOKEN , VAGUENESS ] □ Listen, if you talk to him or anything make sure you let us know, will you.