Miraculously

How to spell miraculously

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce miraculously

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does miraculously mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is remarkable, unexpected, and seemingly impossible to explain.

Miraculously in a sentence

• The driver walked away miraculously unhurt after the crash.

• The missing wallet miraculously turned up weeks later in a coat pocket.

Where does miraculously come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb traces back to the Latin verb mirari, meaning 'to wonder at' or 'to marvel', which also gives us 'admire' and 'mirror'. From that verb Latin formed the noun miraculum, literally 'an object of wonder', the source of the English noun 'miracle'. The adjective 'miraculous' was built by adding the Latin-derived ending -ous, meaning 'full of', and reached English through Old French in the late Middle Ages. The final step is the native English adverb suffix -ly, stacked on top, which is why the word ends in the long string -ously. Knowing that the heart of the word is the 'mira' of 'wonder' helps explain the single r and the unstressed vowels that make the middle so easy to fumble.

How the word is built

• mir- (wonder, from Latin mirari 'to wonder at')
• -acul- (instrument/result suffix)
• -ous (full of)
• -ly (adverb)