Virtually

How to spell virtually

9 letters · 4 syllables

4 of the 153 people asked to spell virtually in Spelling Garden got it wrong the first time.

How to pronounce virtually

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does virtually mean?

1. adverbAlmost entirely; so nearly so that the difference does not matter.
2. adverbBy means of a computer simulation or remote digital connection rather than in physical presence.

Virtually in a sentence

• The report was virtually finished when the power cut interrupted her.

• The whole team now meets virtually every Monday morning.

• After the renovation the kitchen looked virtually brand new.

• Students can tour the museum virtually from their own homes.

Where does virtually come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin virtus, which meant manliness, worth, moral excellence, and power, itself built on vir, the Latin word for 'man'. From virtus medieval Latin formed virtualis, an adjective meaning 'effective' or 'powerful in capacity', describing something that had the inherent force to produce an effect even if it was not so in formal name. English took the adjective 'virtual' in the late fourteenth century, originally in this sense of being so in essence or effect though not in strict fact. The adverb 'virtually' followed, meaning 'in effect' or 'as good as', and only much later, with computing, did 'virtual' gain its modern flavour of a simulated digital version. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle: the '-tu-' is easy to garble, and writers sometimes drop a letter or muddle the '-ally' ending that comes from layering the adverbial -ly onto the adjective virtual.

How the word is built

• virtu- (from virtus: worth, power, excellence)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)