• Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/just

    just adverb (ONLY)
    only; simply:
    “Would you like another drink?” “OK, just one more.”
    It was just a joke.

    In the context:

    Russia might just bail out or nationalise their military industry.

    Simply is absolutely implied by adding “just” in this context. Possibility is already implied by might without adding “just”. So that would be a double of the same meaning. Like Dog Kennel. Ergo “just” must mean “simply” or “only” as in “they only have to” in this context as far as I can tell.

    To just show possibility you would leave the just out like this:
    Russia might bail out or nationalise their military industry.

    • Paraneoptera
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      2 days ago

      This idiom works differently than you think. This thread https://old.reddit.com/r/EnglishLearning/comments/161uisc/what_does_it_mean_you_just_might/ Captures the basic meaning of the idiom “Just” in isolation can mean something different than when it’s added to a phrase. Don’t take my word for it though, Google “might just idiom” for more discussion. This is the thing about idioms, phrasal verbs and the like: they take words that have different meaning in isolation and by joining them alter the meanings of the individual words.