Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to emphasize that something is given special attention and considered separately from other things of the same kind.
...the first nursing home designed ~ for people with AIDS...
We haven’t ~ targeted school children.
...the only book ~ about that event.
ADV: ADV with v emphasis
2.
You use ~ to add something more precise or exact to what you have already said.
...the Christian, and ~ Protestant, religion.
...brain cells, or more ~, neurons.
ADV: ADV with group
3.
You use ~ to indicate that something has a restricted nature, as opposed to being more general in nature.
...a ~ female audience...
This is a European, and not a ~ British, problem.
ADV: ADV adj
4.
If you state or describe something ~, you state or describe it precisely and clearly.
I ~ asked for this steak rare.
ADV: ADV with v