near vs virtually

near

adv
  • Nearly; almost. 

  • At or towards a position close in space or time. 

prep
  • Close to in time. 

  • Physically close to, in close proximity to. 

  • Close to in nature or degree. 

adj
  • Physically close. 

  • So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow. 

  • Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling. 

  • Within the currently selected segment in a segmented memory architecture. 

  • Close in time. 

  • Closely connected or related. 

  • Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear. 

  • Approximate, almost. 

  • On the side nearest to the kerb (the left-hand side if one drives on the left). 

verb
  • To come closer to; to approach. 

noun
  • The left side of a horse or of a team of horses pulling a carriage etc. 

virtually

adv
  • Almost but not quite. 

  • Of a covering space of finite index. 

  • In essence, but not in fact. 

  • By computer or in cyberspace 

  • Of a substructure of finite index. 

  • Without exaggeration. 

How often have the words near and virtually occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )