Pronunciations (4)
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/ˈiːvən/
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[ˈɪi̯vən]
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[ˈɪi̯vn̩]
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əˈvɛn
Adjective
Flat and level.
- Examples
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Clear out those rocks. The surface must be even.
Without great variation.
- Examples
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Despite her fear, she spoke in an even voice.
Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.
- Examples
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The distribution of food must be even.
Call it even.
Of an integer, divisible by two.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Four, fourteen and forty are even numbers.
Of a number, convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
Usage- Informal
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More examples (2)
Coles. How many shares have you bought, Mr. Garfinkle? Garfinkle. One hundred and ninety-six thousand.[…] Jorgenson. […] How'd you figure out to buy such an odd amount? Why not two hundred thousand — nice even number. Thought you liked nice even numbers.
He put me on the scale in my underwear and socks: 82 pounds.[…] I left, humming all day long, remembering that once upon a time my ideal weight had been 84, and now I'd even beaten that. I decided 80 was a better number, a nice even number to be.
On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
Usage- Colloquial
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You biffed me back at the barn, and I biffed you here—so now we're even.
Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.
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And shall lay thee even with the ground.
Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
Usage- Obsolete
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I know my life so even.
Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
Usage- Obsolete
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His even servant.
Verb
To make flat and level.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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We need to even this playing field; the west goal is too low.
This temple Xerxes evened with the soil.
More examples (1)
[...] It will now be good to Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, and Cammomile; for now the ground is ſupple, and it will even all inequalities: [...]
To equal or equate; to make the same.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (2)
The Engliſh Earl [William Longespée the Younger], though he ſtood on the lower ground in point of birth, yet conceived himſelf to even him [Robert I, Count of Artois] in valour and martiall knowledge.
“But aside from that,” I continued, “what have I done that you should even me to dogs by such a supposition? I never yet failed a friend, and it’s not likely I’ll begin with you. There are things between us that I can never forget, even if you can.”
To be equal.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- Examples
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Thrice nine evens twenty seven.
A redoubled numbering never eveneth with the first.
To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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We need to even the score.
More examples (1)
Madam, the care I have had to even your content I wish might be found in the calendar of my past endeavours, for then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them.
To set right; to complete.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
To act up to; to keep pace with.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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Prithee away, There's more to be considered: but we'll even All that good time will give us.
Adverb
Exactly; just; fully.
Usage- Archaic
- not-comparable
- Examples
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I fulfilled my instructions even as I had promised.
You are leaving tonight? — Even so.
More examples (2)
This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark.
In reality (used to imply an extreme example in the case mentioned).
Usage- not-comparable
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Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.
Did you even make it through the front door?
More examples (5)
That was before I was even born.
He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
Used to emphasise a comparative.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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I was strong before, but now I am even stronger.
Used to indicate a further degree of comparison.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Bob is taller than Alice, but Cameron is even taller than Bob.
Rather; that is (used to signal a correction of a previous utterance).
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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My favorite actor is Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicholson, even.
Noun
An even number.
Usage- diminutive
- Examples
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So let's see. There are two evens here and three odds.
Noun
Evening.
Usage- Archaic
- Poetic
- Examples
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We'll meet at even, when the sun is set.
Whẽ the evẽ was come they bꝛought vnto hĩ many that were poſſeſſed with devyllꝭ / […]
More examples (2)
When ſparkling ſtars twire not thou guil'ſt th' eauen.
And if any mans ſeede of copulation goe out from him, then hee ſhall waſh all his fleſh in water, and bee vncleane vntill the Euen.
Adjective
divisible by two
- Antonyms
equal in degree or extent or amount; or equally matched or balanced
- Synonyms
- Examples
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even amounts of butter and sugar
on even terms
More examples (3)
it was a fifty-fifty (or even) split
had a fifty-fifty (or even) chance
an even fight
being level or straight or regular and without variation as e.g. in shape or texture; or being in the same plane or at the same height as something else (i.e. even with)
- Antonyms
- Examples
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an even application of varnish
an even floor
More examples (2)
the road was not very even
the picture is even with the window
symmetrically arranged
- Synonyms
- Examples
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even features
regular features
More examples (1)
a regular polygon
occurring at fixed intervals
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a regular beat
the even rhythm of his breathing
of the score in a contest
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the score is tied
Noun
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
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he enjoyed the evening light across the lake
Adverb
used as an intensive especially to indicate something unexpected
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even an idiot knows that
declined even to consider the idea
More examples (1)
I don't have even a dollar!
in spite of; notwithstanding
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even when he is sick, he works
even with his head start she caught up with him
to a greater degree or extent; used with comparisons
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looked sick and felt even worse
an even (or still) more interesting problem
More examples (2)
still another problem must be solved
a yet sadder tale
to the full extent
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loyal even unto death
Verb
make level or straight
- Broader terms
- Examples
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level the ground
become even or more even
- Synonyms
- Examples
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even out the surface
make even or more even
- Synonyms
- Broader terms