heavily

[hev-uh-lee]

adverb

1. with a great weight or burden.

   a heavily loaded wagon.

2. in a manner suggestive of carrying a great weight; ponderously; lumberingly.

   He walked heavily across the room.

3. in an oppressive manner.

   Cares weigh heavily upon him.

4. severely; greatly; intensely.

   to suffer heavily.

5. densely; thickly.

   heavily wooded.

6. in large amounts or in great quantities; very much.

   It rained heavily on Tuesday.

7. without animation or vigor; in a dull manner; sluggishly.

Other Word Forms

• overheavily adverb
• unheavily adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of heavily¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English hevyly, Old English hefiglīce; equivalent to heavy + -ly

Example Sentences

Builders have a glut of unsold inventory and are leaning heavily on mortgage deals to tempt buyers.

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Tencent has invested heavily in artificial intelligence for years, developing its own large language model and leveraging AI to boost productivity and reduce costs across its various business segments.

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In the absence of government data, economists are heavily monitoring the alternative data, though that is more limited for inflation.

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If you have one, you could lean more heavily on it to pay the bills for the remainder of the year.

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In the absence of government data, economists are heavily monitoring the alternative data, though that is more limited for inflation.

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Related Words

• densely www.thesaurus.com
• massively www.thesaurus.com
• thickly www.thesaurus.com