Squarely

How to spell squarely

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce squarely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does squarely mean?

1. adverbIn a direct, exact, or honest manner; right at the centre or straight on.

Squarely in a sentence

• The falling crate landed squarely on the loading dock.

• The report places the blame squarely on the contractor.

Where does squarely come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built on the adverb-forming suffix -ly added to 'square', which English took from the Old French esquarre, the name for a four-sided figure or a carpenter's set square. That French form goes back to the Vulgar Latin verb exquadrare, meaning 'to make square', assembled from the prefix ex- (out, fully) and quadrare 'to make four-cornered', itself rooted in quattuor, the Latin word for 'four'. Because a true square sits flat and meets its edges at exact right angles, 'square' gathered the idea of being direct, even, and honest, and the adverb 'squarely' carries that into senses like hitting something dead-on or facing a problem head-on. The same quattuor root sits behind 'quadrant', 'quart', and 'quarter', a useful reminder that the heart of the word is the number four. The spelling trap is purely the front cluster: the silent-looking 'qu' for the /kw/ sound and the '-are' that survives unchanged before the suffix.

How the word is built

• square (from Old French esquarre: a four-sided figure)
• -ly (adverb suffix)