adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
He’ll never buy that
▪ ‘Let’s just say it was an accident.’ ‘He’ll never buy that.’
it never entered sb’s head/mind (=used to say that someone never considered a particular idea, especially when this is surprising)
▪ It never entered his head that she might be seeing someone else.
Life is never dull when
▪ Life is never dull when Elizabeth is here.
Never a dull moment (=it’s always interesting or exciting)
▪ Last week we had a hurricane. Never a dull moment running a hotel in the Caribbean .
never cease to amaze me (=I am always surprised by them)
▪ The things people will do for charity never cease to amaze me.
never ceased to amaze
▪ It never ceased to amaze him that women were attracted to Sam.
never known (=have never experienced)
▪ I’ve never known this to happen in all the time I’ve worked here.
never known...to (=he never shouts)
▪ I’ve never known him to shout .
never learns
▪ I’ve told him a hundred times not to bully people, but he never learns.
never touch the stuff (=never drink alcohol)
▪ My grandfather was an alcoholic but I never touch the stuff.
not/never in your wildest dreams (=used to say that you had never expected something to happen)
▪ Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would win the competition.
sb will never know/no one will ever know
▪ Just take it. No one will ever know.
the thought has (never) crossed my mind (=used to tell someone you have thought of the thing they are suggesting, or have never thought of it)
there’s never a dull moment (=something is always exciting or full of activity)
▪ There’s never a dull moment with Chris around!
you never know (=used when you cannot be sure about something, but something good might happen)
▪ I doubt I’ll win, but you never know.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
cease
▪ His ingenuity and artistry never ceased to intrigue the others.
▪ His daughter's beauty had never ceased to surprise the chief inspector.
▪ It never ceases to amaze me!
▪ It never ceases to amaze me what human beings can do when they have to dig deep.
▪ It never ceased to amaze me how he could do it.
▪ Would her mother soon be with Patrick, the child she had never ceased to mourn?
▪ Frye never ceased to be amazed by how little they knew, how unfamiliar they were with the basic routines of school.
come
▪ But slices of bad luck never come singly.
▪ No doubt her husband would never come back.
▪ So they send one of their servants down to force it open, but he never comes back.
▪ The five who slept in quarters near her, but never came in the night.
▪ In fact, Brown never came to the stadium because he was home, and probably vomiting.
▪ She went there in the Fifties and never came back.
▪ But its spotlight circled seas at least a half-mile from him, never coming close.
do
▪ I personally would never do it.
▪ It can never do all things at once.
▪ Nadine never did, had never, as far as Becky could remember, sewn on so much as a button.
▪ He never did less than the best he knew how.
▪ She never does anything without a purpose.
▪ I would never do it, but he deserves it and thinking about it helps me.
▪ That's why we never do it any more.
▪ Never did she ask leading questions or provide suggestions.
dream
▪ Wella's high quality, creamy formulations give you a look you never dreamed you could achieve at home.
▪ They never dreamed of getting them back.
▪ In fact, I never dreamed of being a Springbok.
▪ People often display powers in time of fire that they would never dream of in ordinary life.
▪ When he woke it was suddenly, and to a sight of beauty he had never dreamed he might see.
▪ He never dreamed he would be the butt of such a classic, almost vaudevillian joke.
▪ Murder was to make him something he had always suspected he might be, but had never dreamed of becoming - interesting.
▪ I never dream about my mother as I knew her.
fail
▪ And why does the process never fail?
▪ A young man who never failed, failing.
▪ Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail.
▪ He redistributed clumps of parsley a garnish that for some reason never failed to be available in the markets.
▪ This mime of his never failed to invoke my deep defensiveness with regard to all things Kip.
▪ Procris had given Cephalus a javelin that never failed to strike what it was aimed at.
feel
▪ She had never felt so loved, she decided sleepily, so cherished, so secure.
▪ Fenella, tidying her hair for supper, thought she had never felt quite so alone in her life.
▪ I had never felt pain like that before.
▪ Mortal, I have never felt such great power wielded.
▪ He had never felt anything like them.
▪ It had never felt any hurt before.
▪ The sun was hot, the sky pure blue, and Sam had never felt better.
find
▪ Cuckney has never found it difficult switching from the public to the private sector, or viceversa.
▪ We never found our rhythm that we need in order to open up a game.
▪ He would never find out and I would never care.
▪ But in many ways, Czerkawski never found acceptance in Boston.
▪ People say that if you don't ask you get told more, but I have never found that to be true.
▪ They were, in fat, distant cousins, something they never found out.
▪ He'd never find it, in the dark and without a torch.
▪ That snake, however, in all its wriggling, scaly glory, would never find its way into network fare.
forget
▪ But he commented that he has never forgotten what she said.
▪ They never forget what it felt like to be fat.
▪ What is important, though, is that we should never forget the Christmas message.
▪ Never forget those pictures taken at Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
▪ Male speaker Seventeen million people died in this war and we should never forget.
▪ Yet she could know that he never forgot what her anguish would be when he died.
▪ It is an experience I will never forget.
▪ Never forget that the producer of the program is trying to grab you before you zap away to another news show.
forgive
▪ And as for those who destroyed my Sunday all those years ago, I shall never forgive them.
▪ The Rognes family, Paul and Florence, was devastated, and never forgave the insult.
▪ I will never forgive you as long as I live, he said.
▪ I will never forgive that doctor his callousness.
▪ John never forgave Lawrence for breaking away and going into competition with him.
▪ If I have ruined my child, I will never forgive myself.
▪ Flora had never forgiven her husband for dying ten years before, leaving her badly off.
▪ I think she never forgave me for organizing my friends against wearing hats to mass in 1965.
get
▪ But hope that it may not be necessary, that Edward will never get so far.
▪ The brain never got anything done because it never got everything coordinated.
▪ I could never get a decent swing with my left hand, but at best I would use it only to repel boarders.
▪ Finnane said he and Fitzgerald never got as far as negotiating with anybody, though San Francisco officials seemed to feel otherwise.
▪ I shall never get a job again.
▪ Fortunately, the proposal never gets very far.
▪ He never got angry, he had no need for anti-perspirant.
▪ While proving himself a good sport, Boone never gets his white bucks dirty on this high-concept project.
give
▪ I would hide stones and Bess would rout round with her nose, never giving up until they were found.
▪ Rudi considered F a punitive grade, and he almost never gave one out.
▪ Amy had never given up trying to get control of her inheritance.
▪ She knows I've got some, but I'd never give her the satisfaction of telling her how much.
▪ She never gives orders out loud or leaves written instructions that might be found by a visiting wife or schoolteacher.
▪ You never gave them keys to Madge.
▪ My parents never gave me a penny after I turned sixteen.
go
▪ She never went to anyone else's place without checking it first.
▪ We were into the woods now, where downhill skiers never go.
▪ The search didn't extend very far because Elsie never went more than two or three miles from home.
▪ But he never went so far as to say he would make finding a solution a task for his second term.
▪ However many times you did it, the knotted ball in the base of the stomach never went away.
▪ Elton never showed up because he was never going to.
▪ This kind of obscure approach is never going to win many people-but what's the alternative?
▪ He never goes back more than ten years.
happen
▪ I think we were near deluding ourselves that Harry had never happened, that we'd done it all ourselves.
▪ As previously stated, that never happened.
▪ It's something that should never happen.
▪ Cal has postponed the hearing that should never happen.
▪ By evening it is as if the Love Parade had never happened.
▪ It would never happen but it could.
▪ Except that, ironically, it had never happened to him then.
▪ We always pretended it had never happened.
hear
▪ She had never heard that Father had been apprenticed to another business in the town of Ballylee.
▪ He also made it clear that he had never heard of me.
▪ In all her born days she had never heard anything like it.
▪ I had never heard her say that word.
▪ She had never heard Henry talk like this before.
▪ I never heard anything like it.
▪ I never heard so much as a malicious word or imputation.
▪ Children who had never heard a bedtime story and could not write their own names were crammed into classrooms by the dozens.
know
▪ John never knew who I was.
▪ Run it past your attorneys, you never know if they want to make some changes.
▪ I will never know how I got through that day.
▪ I had never known before that he had her nose.
▪ This means that she sometimes appears as a person who backs off from intimacy; you never know what Jenny is feeling.
▪ As we saw in discussing managerial character, many were pleased to discover internal resources they never knew they had.
▪ They never knew when to give up.
▪ Some one I had never known, never seen, never felt, but had always fantasized about.
learn
▪ Without their efforts, pupils would never learn that all-important principle of science, the controlled fair test.
▪ The safe guess here: They will never learn....
▪ Jones never learned to sing and rarely lightened up his sloganeering.
▪ An eccentric nobleman has never learned how to read a clock.
▪ Is not it a fact that he never learns from experience?
▪ You never learn, do you?
▪ Their goslings never learned how to migrate, and their descendants live on.
leave
▪ He never left a low gear yet when I glanced over my shoulder he was miles clear.
▪ The little girl never left my mind.
▪ We resumed conversation almost as if we had never left off.
▪ My mother, however, once she moved into our house on Tenth Street, never left it.
▪ Her presence had never left me - throughout my worst hours, her pleasant entrances solaced my misery.
▪ One woman I know never leaves her office.
▪ Never leave keys for intruders to find and use.
▪ Police should never leave or transport a sprayed suspect in a prone position because death may result from positional asphyxiation.
let
▪ Never let that rub at your heart, my dear.
▪ His gut geared into action instantly, and for two hours it never let up.
▪ I never let on that my dad's brother, Uncle Joe, made me feel anxious.
▪ They were in control of life and never let it buffet them about.
▪ It started the very first morning, and after that he never let up.
▪ But she never let on about her boyfriend's criminal past.
▪ John, testified he had never let himself in.
meet
▪ I had never met anyone with mental problems.
▪ Robbie had never met any of Caro's adopted family.
▪ In fact, it had never met.
▪ Nowadays, everyone seems to call everyone else by their first name, even though they've never met them before.
▪ Jim had never met anyone quite like Peter Miller before.
▪ He had never met Hindley Foster, some one who seemed very much on the periphery of their lives.
▪ Surprisingly, the two men had never met.
mind
▪ Never mind the money, though.
▪ You never minded taking a risk, and, of course, that's what it is.
▪ Never mind that Prime Ministers do not actually own the Elgin marbles.
▪ Never mind that its stars were said not to be big enough to warrant its $ 20-something-million budget.
▪ Never mind the plaudits of friends.
▪ Never mind that it involves moving to the ends of the Earth.
miss
▪ We never missed them when I was young and we all loved our train journeys.
▪ Through it all Tweedy never missed a beat.
▪ He never misses a murder scene.
▪ The snakes are sometimes hard to find, so the Webers never miss a chance to make a kill.
▪ The result of this strategy is that I've never missed a plane in twenty-eight years of international travel - except once.
▪ The match excited him, because Mayer never missed an angular distance by more than 1. 5 minutes of arc.
▪ David never missed a training session, seminar or meeting, he always managed to fit everything into his busy schedule.
▪ My advice is this: make this writing nonnegotiable; that is, never miss a day.
return
▪ He can probably never return to his family in Novi Sad, at least as long as the Milosevic regime endures.
▪ When he was 17 years old, he was expelled from school for revolutionary activities and never returned to the class-room.
▪ But it's possible the Wessex may never return to full service.
▪ It was Mr Oliver Wendell Holmes who said that a mind stretched to a new idea never returns to its original shape.
▪ Guilt rose in Dinah; she had never returned Mrs Gracie's money; she had not been able to.
▪ But it is certain companies asking bankers to restructure loans will never return to former carefree days.
▪ By the time the cruise was over, I knew I could never return to my old life.
see
▪ I never saw it before you showed me just now.
▪ You never saw such stiff arms, and you could see the one-man rule starting right there and then.
▪ Rachaela never saw her in the bath.
▪ If you've never seen poetry in action, here's a chance to see one of the best slammers around.
▪ She had never seen him with an umbrella before.
▪ But he had a look in his eyes that I had never seen before.
▪ You've never seen such careful drivers.
▪ The princess had never seen a spindle and asked the woman what she was doing.
seem
▪ It certainly never seems right to do so.
▪ Now, I never seem to get any closure.
▪ Born when the earth sleeps, yet Effie never seemed to rest and had soon worn out a rather fragile Marjorie.
▪ His mouth never seemed to alter in shape; rather it expanded and contracted proportionally when he spoke.
▪ It seems never to have been doubted that a corporation created by Royal Charter can sue for libel.
▪ Telling people that we met at the Continental has never seemed right, either.
▪ The education ministry's minuscule maintenance budget never seemed to find its way up to tiny Varosh.
▪ But his affairs never seemed to come to anything.
stop
▪ It bought the nice house in Aberdeen where the Daimlers never stopped.
▪ I wanted him to keep talking, to never stop.
▪ He never stopped in at the Susweca for refreshment after he was finished for the day.
▪ He never stopped at the house after that.
▪ I have had constant new experiences, and I have never stopped learning.
▪ The Sun Princess never stops serving.
▪ She had not realised how she would never stop needing him but now she could see the future and it was dark.
▪ Pilgrims never stopped traveling to Lourdes or Fatima, and even the most conventional churches had continued to pray for the sick.
tell
▪ I never told Dana of this encounter.
▪ He never tells you what he thinks is important.
▪ They were told never to open the door to some one they didn't know.
▪ Going about my daily life, I certainly never told them aloud and never even alluded to them.
▪ These are given in songs to amuse the child, who is never told that he is being taught.
▪ And why do they hold news conferences but never tell the public anything?
▪ I never told my wife this story.
▪ I turned sixteen the next week and never told my parents what a miraculous birthday it was.
think
▪ You never thought that being grown up would mean having to be quite so - how can I put it?
▪ I had never thought about that.
▪ She never thought at all about the hacienda until they were almost back there.
▪ I never thought twice about leaving Joliet.
▪ A man never thinks, when he undertakes one journey, that he may not return from it to contemplate another.
▪ Of course, I never thought this game was going to get here, either.
▪ She had never thought she would see Alain.
▪ Dionysus, on the contrary, was never thought of as a power in the kingdom of the dead.
use
▪ The term was never used in regard to anything acceptable.
▪ Unexpectedly he suffered from sunburn, and had never used suntan lotion before.
▪ Personal reflections My gut reaction has always been against the placing of bolts, and I've never used them.
▪ He was a master of blacklight illusion who never used black light.
▪ His search for Tess took him first to Flintcomb-Ash, where he discovered she had never used her married name.
▪ Payments to couriers for aircraft that were never used.
▪ Ethnic origin counts in a way it never used to.
▪ He never used much of the bow.
want
▪ Homeworking / teleworking Homeworking used to conjure up images of hard-pressed workers licking envelopes or schoolwork that we never wanted to do.
▪ We've always identified Mudhoney as the four of us, and never wanted to have to replace somebody.
▪ He never wants to go out with me, not even to see his parents, who live nearby.
▪ I never wanted to get rich with this.
▪ And I never want really to go beyond looking at them ....
▪ I never wanted to become a prisoner of my overhead.
▪ He never wanted to live in the public life.
▪ I never wanted to go down there.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I'll never forget sth
I/he etc will never hear the end of it
better late than never
▪ "The pictures have finally arrived.'' "Well, better late than never.''
▪ While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
better late than never
▪ While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
fear not/never fear
guess what/you'll never guess who/what etc
it never rains but it pours
it's now or never
▪ Twoflower, I thought, it's now or never.
lightning never strikes twice
never darken my door again
never dreamed (that)
▪ Abe Lincoln had probably never dreamed there would be colleges like this, for blacks, in the South.
▪ He had never dreamed a person could be so powerless in his power.
▪ She had a tremendous gift for making people see their own potential and do things they never dreamed possible.
▪ That's because large events involve extra considerations you never dreamed of when doing a small conference.
▪ They never dreamed of getting them back.
▪ Wella's high quality, creamy formulations give you a look you never dreamed you could achieve at home.
▪ With Chris he had known a joy he had never dreamed of.
never ever
▪ I've never ever heard Nina swear.
▪ I am so glad we have never ever dated and never ever will!
▪ It has been 3 years in which my family were put through things they never ever deserved to be put through.
▪ Nowadays, I never ever feed tubifex to my fish.
▪ Once more, never ever laugh at a violent man.
▪ Perhaps you never ever heard, so wrapped up were you in your own dreams and ambitions.
▪ The camera will never ever be profitable to produce.
never fail to do sth
▪ But he would never fail to have a meal.
▪ He has never failed to acquit a client charged with murder.
▪ I can not bear this obscene, grubbing curiosity about the affairs of others, it has never failed to repel me.
▪ I have often worked black smokers in Alvin and I never fail to be awed by them.
▪ My genius never fails to amaze.
▪ They never failed to show up with the black jackets and the sneakers and the Pimp Roll.
▪ This mime of his never failed to invoke my deep defensiveness with regard to all things Kip.
never let a day/week/year etc go by without doing sth
never look back
▪ After Berg left baseball in 1978, he never looked back.
▪ After this he would never look back.
▪ And it was a strange feeling for Lois when she saw Paul do just that and never look back.
▪ He grabbed the points race lead for good in late April and virtually never looked back.
▪ Her studies were interrupted by the opportunity to go into local politics, from which she has never looked back.
▪ Mandy Rice-Davies meant good times, and never looking back.
▪ Once he learned to ride his gains and cut his losses, he never looked back.
▪ She never looked back to see what was chasing her, just woke in a cramped sweat, breathless and in tears.
▪ Today their dreams have come true partially because they burned their bridges and never looked back.
never mind
▪ "Hey, Debbie?" "What?" "Uh, never mind."
▪ "How do you know so much about Jake anyway?" "Never mind that!"
▪ "I forgot your books." "Oh, never mind, I'll get them another time."
▪ "I was already planning to have chicken tonight." "Oh, never mind, it was just an idea."
▪ "Please forgive me for losing your book." "Oh, never mind. I have another copy."
▪ "What did you say?" "Oh, never mind."
▪ He was ashamed to tell his family, never mind a stranger.
▪ I'll take it, never mind the cost!
▪ I need to get Miriam's number from Steve... oh, here it is, never mind.
▪ I want this wedding to be perfect, never mind the cost.
▪ Never mind that it's late. I need to talk to you now.
▪ Never mind the dishes - I'll do them later.
▪ Never mind what Jalal says, Peter is a trusted member of our community.
▪ Oh, Dad, never mind, Cheryl's got them.
▪ This is food at its best. Never mind that the service still needs work.
▪ And never mind if some of them did not see a single golf-ball struck.
▪ Assets exceeded debts, but never mind.
▪ But never mind, the starlets of Hollywood, sorry, Hollyswamp aren't too far away.
▪ He never minded hard work, but it was his hammer that was his calling.
▪ I never minded when she would get sick and keep us up at night.
▪ Not worth investigating, never mind going to the lengths of deadly sabotage.
▪ They don't even have a pub there, never mind a decent curry house.
▪ You never minded taking a risk, and, of course, that's what it is.
never miss a trick
▪ Mrs. White knew we hadn't studied - she never misses a trick.
▪ But then he never missed a trick.
▪ The only trouble was that although he never missed a trick, he was dreadfully slow.
never once/not once
never say die
never the twain shall meet
▪ Generally, the streetwise dealers work in a separate camp from the more educated types, and never the twain shall meet.
never tire of doing sth
▪ He never tires of talking about the good old days.
▪ And it was true, as Christians never tired of pointing out, that a painful spiritual confusion reigned.
▪ And when speech gave way to the rhythmic breathing and small cries or even angry groans that I never tired of overhearing?
▪ As Otis never tired of saying, this was the promised land.
▪ I look at both my sewing and knitting as wonderful gifts that I will never tire of.
▪ I never tire of watching this strange beast that lurches like a turkey and sways its neck like a swan.
▪ She felt she would never tire of the way Ludo demonstrated each change in his mood.
▪ Still, never tired of handing them out.
▪ Yet certain films he would watch over and over again and never tire of them.
never you mind
never/don't look a gift horse in the mouth
never/not in a million years
▪ You won't get Kieran to agree - not in a million years!
▪ He was rich as Croesus, something he had never expected to be, not in a million years.
▪ I still had to find Wally and attempt to explain what I would never in a million years be able to explain.
▪ It is based on a true story so outrageous that it would never in a million years have passed muster as fiction.
▪ Never. Not in a million years.
▪ No parent is going to believe this pigtail story, not in a million years.
▪ The real reason for her lack of promotion, she knew, would never in a million years occur to him.
▪ There was no point in all of this: she would never believe him. Not in a million years.
▪ You'd never in a million years see a dancing man in a field in the country.
never/not in a month of Sundays
not/never be (a great) one for (doing) sth
not/never be one to do sth
▪ Tom is not one to show his emotions.
▪ I never was one to collect a bunch of guitars like some people do.
not/never in a million years
▪ I never would have guessed in a million years!
▪ Never in a million years did I think we'd lose.
▪ He was rich as Croesus, something he had never expected to be, not in a million years.
▪ I still had to find Wally and attempt to explain what I would never in a million years be able to explain.
▪ It is based on a true story so outrageous that it would never in a million years have passed muster as fiction.
▪ No parent is going to believe this pigtail story, not in a million years.
▪ The real reason for her lack of promotion, she knew, would never in a million years occur to him.
▪ You'd never in a million years see a dancing man in a field in the country.
not/never in your wildest dreams
▪ But never in my wildest dreams did I expect such a transformation as this.
sb was never meant for sth/to be sth
sb will never hear the last of sth
wonders will never cease
you never can tell/you can never tell
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Have you ever been to Paris?" "No, never."
▪ Never in my whole life have I felt so angry.
▪ Ali had never seen snow before.
▪ He walks right past me and never even says "hello".
▪ I've never been to Hawaii.
▪ It never gets this hot in Vancouver.
▪ The view was spectacular - I'll never forget it.
▪ Theo was married twice, but he never had any children.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He never deviated from the radical right's agenda, but he gave it a warm, sympathetic face.
▪ He had never before discussed such matters with his friend in holy orders.
▪ He kept the gun pointed at Connelly's head the entire time, the barrel never more than inches from his face.
▪ I will never forget meeting them for the first time at one of our distributor seminars in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania.
▪ Morrissey will never forget the slight.
▪ The State can never be indifferent to the creation of a power or powers which may rival its own.
▪ We never go out to eat anymore or have pizza at home.
▪ We had one hit with mines and incoming rounds, but we never had one explode, even when pressurized.