Meaning of nearly man | Babel Free

Definitions

A man who fails to achieve the success or status that he might potentially have had.

idiomatic, informal

Examples

“It was Harris's lot to be a nearly man: a man nearly educated, nearly employed, nearly criminal, but never really toppling the edges to be labelled. He had been nearly married, and lived at this time with a woman who had also seen better days […]”

“Snuggle's is housed in what was once a mid-sixties estate pub, the perfect place to wind down a life as a nearly man. Suburban mediocrity writ large.”

CEFR level