Does the phrase "By no means" mean to same to "certainly"?
I just passed by this sentence "This problem is by no means peculiar to American." It seems that the phrase " by no means" means "certainly" or "definitely" in this sentence. I wonder whether I can always consider this phrase as a possible replacement to "certainly". Thank you in advance.

Question

Does the phrase "By no means" mean to same to "certainly"?
I just passed by this sentence "This problem is by no means peculiar to American."            It seems that the phrase " by no means" means "certainly" or "definitely" in this sentence. I wonder whether I can always consider this phrase as a possible replacement to "certainly". Thank you in advance.

Answer

You are close! It means "certainly not" or "definitely not." It is used to emphasize a negative statement.

Answer

The sentence you are asking about actually means the same as
"This problem is not unique to American"

'by no means' implies/means the opposite of 'definitely' or 'certainly'

Answer

Thank you for pointing out my mis-spellings, Gary.

Answer

Take care with your spelling. Your grammar is generally good, but there are 3-4 typos in your question.
'Hangzhou is by no means a suburb of Shanghai'. ;)

Answers · 6

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