word choice - Difference between 'just' and 'only'


'Just' and 'only' carry a similar meaning, and while my feel for language usually helps me decide which one to use, there are times when I'm at a loss.


From my understanding, 'just' is used as a softener, to add flexibility and politeness. 'Only', on the other hand, is a relatively sharp exclusion. 'Just' also has a wider range of meanings, for instance to denote time.


While this sounds simple enough, it can get messy in practical usage. The sentence that made me stumble was "Not only airports are part of the target customer group, but also other large infrastructures".


Would the meaning of this sentence change when using 'just' instead? The way I see it, there is no difference in this case, except 'just' would make it sound a tad more colloquial.




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