fairly
Americanadverb
-
in a fair manner; justly or honestly; impartially.
-
moderately; tolerably.
a fairly heavy rain.
-
properly; legitimately.
a claim fairly made.
-
Chiefly Southern U.S.
-
The wheels fairly spun.
-
He slipped off the roof and fairly broke his neck.
-
-
Archaic. clearly; distinctly.
fairly seen.
-
Obsolete. gently; softly.
-
Obsolete. with respect and courtesy.
adverb
-
(not used with a negative) moderately
-
as deserved; justly
-
(not used with a negative) positively; absolutely
the hall fairly rang with applause
-
archaic clearly
-
obsolete courteously
Etymology
Origin of fairly
A Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at fair 1, -ly
Explanation
When you do something fairly, you treat everyone with equal consideration. Sharing a pizza fairly between six people is easy: just give each person one slice. A teacher who doesn't treat all students fairly isn't a very good teacher — and a police officer who doesn't act fairly toward all citizens is also doing a poor job. When you behave fairly, you're unbiased and impartial, and you follow the rules. You can also use this adverb to mean "to a large degree" or "reasonably." For example, you could say, "I'm fairly certain that it's going to snow again tomorrow."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My partner and I made the mistake of playing with young people, a couple of kids in their early 20s who play fairly regularly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
“There’s a lot of appeal to younger consumers in a style that is still fairly fresh to them, because maybe they weren’t shopping when ballet flats were last popular,” she said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
“I was fairly shocked,” said Ames, who had never diagnosed the condition before.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Taylor says the scrutiny on officials is "off the scale", and much of that is from "people in the media looking for things to scrutinise, whether that be fairly or unfairly".
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
In spite of this, equal temperament works fairly well, because most of the intervals it gives actually fall quite close to the pure intervals.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
