Successfully

How to spell successfully

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce successfully

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does successfully mean?

1. adverbIn a way that achieves a desired aim or result.

Successfully in a sentence

• The team successfully launched the new product ahead of schedule.

• She successfully negotiated a lower interest rate on the mortgage.

Where does successfully come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb is built on the noun 'success', which English took from the Latin successus, meaning 'an advance', 'a good result', or literally 'a coming up' or 'a following after'. That noun came from the verb succedere, formed from sub- meaning 'under' or 'close after' and cedere meaning 'to go' or 'to move'; so the original idea was of going forward and coming up close behind, hence advancing well. English adopted 'success' in the sixteenth century, at first meaning simply any outcome (good or bad) before it narrowed to the favourable sense we use today. The adjective 'successful' added the native English ending -ful, 'full of', and 'successfully' then took the adverb ending -ly. The same cedere root sits inside 'proceed', 'recede', and 'concede', which is a useful reminder that the spelling carries a double s (from suc- plus the c of cess) and that the trap is the unstressed -ful- in the middle, written with one l before the -ly is added.

How the word is built

• suc- (under, close after)
• cess (from cedere: to go)
• -ful (full of)
• -ly (adverb suffix)