Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- By good fortune; fortunately; luckily.
- In a happy or pleasing way or state; in pleasant or fortunate circumstances; with happiness or joy.
- With address, skill, dexterity, or aptness; dexterously; felicitously; aptly; gracefully.
- By chance; peradventure; haply.
- Synonyms Haply, Happily. Haply, now rarely used in prose, means by chance; happily, by a happy chance.
- Prosperously, successfully, contentedly.
Wiktionary
- adv. archaic By chance; perhaps.
- adv. By good chance; fortunately, successfully.
- adv. In a happy or cheerful manner; with happiness.
- adv. With good will; in all happiness; willingly.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. obsolete By chance; peradventure; haply.
- adv. By good fortune; fortunately; luckily.
- adv. In a happy manner or state; in happy circumstances.
- adv. With address or dexterity; gracefully; felicitously; in a manner to insure success; with success.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. in an unexpectedly lucky way
- adv. in a joyous manner
Etymologies
- From happy + -ly. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“So reading about that experience and knowing that it ends happily is a consistent element of storytelling.”
“There might be a blog post along these lines, if I can find the time (the novel, happily, is occupying a lot of my time right now).”
“No matter how many times you click your little heels together and make a wish, you might not awaken Friday morning after watching Bravo's "Real Housewives of D.C." finale only to discover it was all a bad technicolor dream that, happily, is over.”
The Washington Post: Boffo ratings, but beige story lines for Bravo's 'Real Housewives of D.C.'
“No matter how many times you click your little heels together and make a wish, you may not wake up Friday morning after watching Bravo's "Real Housewives of DC" finale and discover it was all a bad Technicolor dream that, happily, is over.”
The Washington Post: 'Real Housewives of DC': Fat lady has not yet sung
“Kaylin happily inherited these, having been taught to knit by the ballerina, and she turned out an endless supply of garter-stitched scarves.”
“Also (and this is totally my own take on things, unproven by any kind of study or research), but I think that kids whose parents are divorced, separated, single, or otherwise un-Cleaver-ish might have a slight edge over those who grew up in happily-married homes.”
“I'd still tune in happily if something new was about to happen.”
“Though they depict pretty grim events, they usually resolve in "happily ever after.”
“And the focus, happily, is on House himself as a bus crash leaves him with gaps in his memory and turns him into doctor and patient, struggling to remember who on the bus was in life-threatening danger.”
“It's probably best that I reside in happily single solitude, because I have a problem with always being "right" also, (or I should say "thinking" that I am).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘happily’.
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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