Ideally

How to spell ideally

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ideally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ideally mean?

1. adverbIn the best or most desirable way; under perfect conditions.

Ideally in a sentence

• The meeting should ideally finish before lunch.

• Ideally the candidate would have several years of management experience.

Where does ideally come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This adverb is built on the adjective 'ideal', which traces back through Late Latin idealis to the Greek idea, meaning a 'form', 'pattern', or 'mental image' of something. The Greek noun came from the verb idein, 'to see', so an idea was originally the look or appearance that a thing presented to the mind. By the time English picked up 'ideal' in the 1600s, the sense had shifted toward something existing as a perfect model in thought rather than in messy reality. Adding the productive English suffix '-ly' turned the adjective into the adverb 'ideally', meaning 'in the best possible way' or 'in a perfect world'. The spelling trap is simply the join: the base 'ideal' already ends in 'l', so '-ly' adds a second 'l' to give the doubled 'll' that writers sometimes drop.

How the word is built

• ideal (from Greek idea: form, pattern)
• -ly (adverb suffix)