nevertheless

English

Alternative forms

• ne'ertheless (archaic or poetic)
• nethertheless (dated, nonstandard)

Etymology

From Middle English nevertheles, never-þe-les, nevere-þe-lesse. By surface analysis, never (“not at all”) +‎ the +‎ less; compare never the wiser.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌnɛvəðəˈlɛs/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌnɛvɚðəˈlɛs/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

    (file)

Adverb

nevertheless (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive) In spite of what preceded; yet.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 12:11, column 2:

     Now no chaſtening for the preſent ſeemeth to be ioyous, but grieuous: neuertheleſſe, afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruite of righteouſneſſe, vnto them which are exerciſed thereby.

   • 1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 17:

     The attainment of the skills of elementary reading occurred some time ago for almost all who read this book. Nevertheless, we continue to experience the problems of this level of reading, no matter how capable we may be as readers.

   • 2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American Scientist:

     Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.

   • 2025 September 16, Jacob Sullum, “Brendan Carr and Ted Cruz Don't Think Charlie Kirk's Murder Justifies Speech Restrictions”, in Reason‎^[1]:

     Paul did eventually mention potential First Amendment concerns, saying, "We have to be wary of where it leads to, so it doesn't lead to speech problems." He nevertheless could and should have made it clearer that the "crackdown" he has in mind does not entail the sort of government restrictions that Carr and Cruz rightly rejected.

Synonyms

• (in spite of what preceded): even so, however, nonetheless, still, though, yet, notwithstanding; see also Thesaurus:nevertheless

Translations

in spite of what preceded — see also however,‎ that being said

• Arabic: وَمَعَ ذٰلِكَ (wa-maʕa ḏālika), بِالرَّغْمِ مِن ذٰلِكَ (bi-r-raḡmi min ḏālika)

  Egyptian Arabic: بالرغم من كدا (be-r-raḡm men keda)

• Azerbaijani: bununla belə, buna baxmayaraq, bununla yanaşı, onunla belə, yenə də
• Bengali: অথচ (bn) (othoc)
• Bulgarian: въпреки това (vǎpreki tova), все пак (vse pak)
• Catalan: nogensmenys (ca), no obstant (ca), tanmateix (ca), ara bé
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 還是 / 还是 (zh) (háishi), 然而 (zh) (rán'ér), 仍然 (zh) (réngrán), 儘管如此, 尽管如此 (jǐnguǎn rúcǐ)

• Czech: nicméně (cs)
• Danish: alligevel (da), ikke desto mindre
• Dutch: niettemin (nl), niettegenstaande (nl), toch (nl), desondanks (nl), desalniettemin (nl), alhoewel (nl)
• Esperanto: malgraŭe, tamen (eo)
• Estonian: ikka (et)
• Finnish: siitä huolimatta, kuitenkin (fi), joka tapauksessa (fi), kumminkin (fi), silti (fi), yhtä kaikki (fi)
• French: néanmoins (fr), toutefois (fr), pourtant (fr), malgré tout (fr), nonobstant (fr), cependant (fr), cela étant (fr), tout de même (fr)
• Galician: no entanto (gl), orasme, porén (gl), nembargantes
• German: nichtsdestoweniger (de), trotzdem (de), auch wenn, dennoch (de), unbenommen (de); nichtsdestotrotz (de) (colloquial, humorous)
• Greek: ωστόσο (el) (ostóso), μολαταύτα (el) (molatáfta), μολοντούτο (el) (molontoúto), παρ’ όλα αυτά (par’ óla aftá), εν τούτοις (el) (en toútois)

  Ancient Greek: καίτοι (kaítoi), ὅμως (hómōs), καὶ ὡς (kaì hōs)

• Hebrew: על כל פנים (al kól panim)
• Hindi: फिर भी (phir bhī)
• Hungarian: mindamellett (hu), mindazonáltal (hu), azonban (hu), ettől függetlenül
• Icelandic: engu að síður, samt sem áður, eigi að síður
• Ido: tamen (io), malgre (io)
• Interlingua: nonobstante
• Irish: mar sin féin
• Italian: nondimeno (it), tuttavia (it), eppure (it), nonostante (it), ciononostante (it)
• Japanese: それでも (ja) (sore demo), やはり (ja) (yahari), それにもかかわらず (sore ni kakawarazu), しかも (ja) (shikamo)
• Korean: 그렇지만 (ko) (geureochiman)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەرەڕای (sererray)

  Northern Kurdish: tevî jî, dîsan jî (ku)

• Latin: tamen (la), attamen, nihilominus
• Macedonian: нејсе (nejse)
• Malagasy: na dia izany aza (mg)
• Māori: he ahakoa, he ahakoa tonu, hei aha koa, aua atu (rā), hei aha (koa/noa iho), me aha koa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: likevel (no), allikevel (no), ikke desto mindre (no), likefullt

  Nynorsk: likevel

• Occitan: totparier
• Old Prussian: adder
• Pannonian Rusyn: медзитим (medzitim)
• Persian: بااین‌وجود
• Plautdietsch: doch (nds)
• Polish: niemniej jednak (pl), jednakże (pl), jednakowoż (pl)
• Portuguese: não obstante (pt), no entanto (pt), contudo (pt), apesar de (pt), de qualquer jeito
• Quechua: ichaqa
• Romanian: totuși (ro), cu toate acestea
• Russian: тем не ме́нее (ru) (tem ne méneje) (most common translation), одна́ко (ru) (odnáko), зато́ (ru) (zató), но (ru) (no), несмотря́ на э́то (nesmotrjá na éto), всё-таки (ru) (vsjo-taki); но всё же (no vsjo že); но всё-таки (no vsjo-taki); но, несмотря на это (no, nesmotrja na eto); но, как бы то ни было (no, kak by to ni bylo) (common, colloquial), вместе с тем (ru) (vmeste s tem)
• Serbo-Croatian: ipak (sh), usprkos tome
• Slovak: jednako (sk), napriek tomu, ničmenej
• Spanish: sin embargo (es), a pesar de esto, con todo (es), con todo y eso, no obstante (es), pese a ello
• Swedish: icke desto mindre (sv), likväl (sv), likafullt (sv), ändå (sv), ändock (sv)
• Tagalog: datapwat, gayunpaman, ganun pa man, ganoon pa man, gayumpaman
• Telugu: అయినా (te) (ayinā)
• Turkish: bununla birlikte (tr), buna rağmen, buna karşın, herşeye rağmen
• Ukrainian: а втім (a vtim), проте́ (proté), одна́к (odnák), все-таки (vse-taky), все ж таки (vse ž taky)
• Urdu: پھر بھی (phir bhī), تاہم (tāham)
• Venetan: epura (vec), epur
• Vietnamese: tuy vậy (vi), tuy thế (vi)
• West Flemish: pertank
• Woiwurrung: kooing
• Yiddish: פֿונדעסטוועגן (fundestvegn)

Further reading

• “nevertheless”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “nevertheless”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.