Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to emphasize that a place has more of a particular quality than any other places, or that it is the only place where something happens or exists.
Nowhere is language a more serious issue than in Hawaii...
This kind of forest exists ~ else in the world...
If you are extremely rich, you could stay ~ better than the Ruislip Court Hotel.
ADV: ADV with be , ADV after v, oft ADV cl/group emphasis
2.
You use ~ when making negative statements to say that a suitable place of the specified kind does not exist.
There was ~ to hide and ~ to run...
I have ~ else to go, ~ in the world...
He had ~ to call home.
ADV: be ADV, ADV after v, usu ADV to-inf, ADV adj/-ed to-inf
3.
You use ~ to indicate that something or someone cannot be seen or found.
Michael glanced anxiously down the corridor, but Wilfred was ~ to be seen...
The escaped prisoner was ~ in sight...
ADV: be ADV, oft ADV to-inf, ADV adv/prep
4.
You can use ~ to refer in a general way to small, unimportant, or uninteresting places.
...endless paths that led ~ in particular.
...country roads that go from ~ to ~.
ADV: ADV after v, from/to ADV
5.
If you say that something or someone appears from ~ or out of ~, you mean that they appear suddenly and unexpectedly.
A car came from ~, and I had to jump back into the hedge just in time...
Houses had sprung up out of ~ on the hills.
ADV: from/out of ADV
6.
You use ~ to mean not in any part of a text, speech, or argument.
He ~ offers concrete historical background to support his arguments...
Point taken, but ~ did we suggest that this yacht’s features were unique...
The most important issue for most ordinary people was ~ on the proposed agenda.
ADV: ADV before v, be ADV, oft ADV prep emphasis
7.
If you say that a place is in the middle of ~, you mean that it is a long way from other places.
At dusk we pitched camp in the middle of ~.
PHRASE: usu PHR after v, v-link PHR
8.
If you say that you are getting ~, or getting ~ fast, or that something is getting you ~, you mean that you are not achieving anything or having any success.
My mind won’t stop going round and round on the same subject and I seem to be getting ~...
‘Getting ~ fast,’ pronounced Crosby, ‘that’s what we’re doing.’...
Oh, stop it! This is getting us ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
If you use ~ near in front of a word or expression, you are emphasizing that the real situation is very different from, or has not yet reached, the state which that word or expression suggests.
He’s ~ near recovered yet from his experiences...
The chair he sat in was ~ near as comfortable as the custom-designed one behind his desk.
PHRASE emphasis