in essence or effect but not in fact
"the strike virtually paralyzed the city"
"I'm virtually broke"
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
"the job is (just) about done"
"the baby was almost asleep when the alarm sounded"
"we're almost finished"
"the car all but ran her down"
"he nearly fainted"
"talked for nigh onto 2 hours"
"the recording is well-nigh perfect"
"virtually all the parties signed the contract"
"I was near exhausted by the run"
"most everyone agrees"
Almost but not quite.
"The project is virtually complete, though we still need to fix a few minor bugs before launch."
In plain English: Virtually means almost or nearly, but not quite completely.
"The store was virtually empty after everyone went home for the holidays."
The word virtually comes from Middle English vertually, which was formed by adding the suffix -ly to virtual. It entered modern usage as an adverb meaning "in a virtual manner," preserving its original sense of relating to something that is not physically present but exists in effect.