indeed

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English indede, contraction of the phrase in dede (in sooth, in fact) [early 14thc.]; equivalent to in- + deed (similar in formation to in fact). Compare also West Frisian yndied, Dutch inderdaad (indeed) and German in der Tat (indeed). More at in, deed.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈdiːd/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iːd
  • Hyphenation: in‧deed

Adverb

indeed (not comparable)

  1. (modal) Truly; in fact; actually.
    Indeed, he made several misplays.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., [], OCLC 752825175, page 071:
      Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time that he wore kilts. But I see that I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed, she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:
      With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get []
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, [].
  2. (degree, after the adjective modified) In fact.
    As a soccer player, he is terrible indeed.

Synonyms

Translations

Interjection

indeed

  1. indicates emphatic agreement
    "I am a great runner." "Indeed!"
  2. with interrogative intonation (low-high) indicates serious doubt.
    "I am a great runner." "Indeed?"

Synonyms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Further reading

Anagrams

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