How do you pronounce heavily?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhɛvɪli/.

Where does heavily come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

heavily

/ˈhɛvɪli/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.54 in modern English

Syllables: heav-i-ly
IPA: /ˈhɛvɪli/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adv

With a great weight.

adv

To a considerable degree, to a great extent.

adv

In a manner designed for heavy duty.

adv

So as to be thick or heavy.

adv

In a laboured manner.

Example Sentences

"heavily burdened"
"She fell heavily into bed."
"He clomped heavily up the stairs in his boots."
"The great clod trod heavily on my toes!"
"The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets;[…]; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity."
"He relied heavily on the data collected by the others."

Etymology

From Middle English hevely, hevyliche, from Old English hefiġlīċe (“heavily; grievously”), equivalent to heavy + -ly.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *keh₂p-, hevely, hefiġlīċe

Inflected Forms

more heavily (comparative) most heavily (superlative) heauily (alternative, obsolete)

Derived Forms

unheavily

Phrases

time hangs heavily

Synonyms

to a great extent intemperately hard heavy

Rhymes With

levalley mcevilly