Vehemently

How to spell vehemently

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce vehemently

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does vehemently mean?

1. adverbIn a forceful, passionate, and strongly felt manner.

Vehemently in a sentence

• She vehemently denied any involvement in the missing funds.

• The residents argued vehemently against the new parking charges.

Where does vehemently come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin adjective vehemens, which meant 'forceful', 'eager', or 'impetuous', and was used of strong feelings and violent movement alike. Roman writers themselves were unsure of its make-up: one popular ancient explanation linked it to vehere 'to carry' (the same root that gives us 'vehicle'), as if a vehement person were 'carried away'; another tied it to a sense of being 'out of one's mind' from ve- (an intensive or negative prefix) and mens 'mind'. English took the adjective 'vehement' through Old French in the late 1300s and built the adverb 'vehemently' soon after by adding the native English ending -ly. The trap in the spelling is the silent, unstressed middle: the 'h' is not heard and the second syllable is a faint schwa, so writers can drop the 'h' or the 'e' even though both sit quietly in the heart of the word.

How the word is built

• vehement (from Latin vehemens: forceful, eager)
• -ly (adverb suffix)