Greatly

How to spell greatly

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce greatly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does greatly mean?

1. adverbTo a large extent or degree; very much.

Greatly in a sentence

• The new software has greatly improved our response times.

• Her contribution to the project was greatly appreciated by the whole team.

Where does greatly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word combines the adjective 'great' with the common adverb-forming suffix '-ly'. 'Great' comes from the Old English 'great', which originally meant 'thick', 'coarse', or 'massive' rather than simply 'large in importance'; you can still feel that older 'bulky' sense in phrases about a great oak or a great stone. The suffix '-ly' descends from the Old English 'lice', meaning roughly 'in the manner of', the same element that gives us countless adverbs such as 'quickly' and 'badly'. Over the Middle English period 'great' broadened from physical size to abstract degree and esteem, and the adverb 'greatly' settled into its modern role of expressing a large extent or intensity. The spelling keeps the silent 'ea' of 'great', which is a frequent stumbling point because that letter pair is pronounced as a long 'a' here rather than the 'ee' sound it carries in words like 'meat'.

How the word is built

• great (large, considerable)
• -ly (adverb suffix)