Densely

How to spell densely

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce densely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does densely mean?

1. adverbIn a manner that is closely packed, crowded, or thick.

Densely in a sentence

• The city centre is densely populated, with thousands of people per square mile.

• The report was so densely written that few colleagues finished reading it.

Where does densely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin adjective densus, which meant 'thick', 'crowded', or 'packed close together', as with foliage or fog. English took in the adjective 'dense' through French during the 1500s, and the noun 'density' followed soon after. The adverb 'densely' was formed within English by attaching the native suffix '-ly' to the adjective, a routine pattern that turns a description into a manner of action. The same Latin root survives in 'condense', literally to thicken together, and in 'density'. Because the adjective ends in a silent '-e', writers must remember to keep that 'e' before adding '-ly', which is the small spelling check this word demands.

How the word is built

• dens- (from Latin densus: thick, crowded)
• -e (adjective stem)
• -ly (adverb suffix)