Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
You use ~ to indicate that something is not completely the case but is nearly the case.
The couple had been dating for ~ three years...
Storms have been hitting ~ all of Britain recently...
The effect is ~ impossible to describe...
The arrested man will ~ certainly be kept at this police station...
He contracted Spanish flu, which ~ killed him.
= nearly
ADV: ADV group, ADV before v