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near
/nɪə(ɹ)/
When used as a preposition, "near" is very common for describing physical locations. For example, "the park is near my house." In some regions, people use "nearby" instead of "near" when the word comes at the end of a sentence (e.g., "Is there a gas station nearby?"). When used as a verb, it is almost always followed by a destination or a goal, such as nearing a deadline or nearing the end of a journey.
💬Casual Conversation
🎬Tuesday afternoon, Chloe is procrastinating on a paper in the campus library.
Karen Smith
Are you anywhere near home? I need you to move your junk from the driveway.
Chloe Smith
Hardly. I'm currently drowning in this essay, leave me be.
💡
Karen is being passive-aggressive about the state of the driveway. Chloe uses the idiom 'drowning in', meaning she is overwhelmed by her workload, to deflect her mother's request.