happily

[hap-uh-lee]

adverb

1. in a happy manner; with pleasure.

2. by good fortune; providentially; luckily.

3. felicitously; appropriately; aptly.

   a happily turned phrase.

Other Word Forms

• overhappily adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of happily¹

A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; happy, -ly

Idioms and Phrases

see live happily ever after.

Example Sentences

In recent years, she happily realized she would be able to do just that.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“He doesn’t know he was in a movie,” said Leonberg, clasping a happily wriggling Indy, who doesn’t register me on the other end of the Zoom interview.

Read more on Salon

"I'd been handed an opportunity to leave the pain and shame of my past behind, so I happily stepped into the character created for me," she writes in the book.

Read more on BBC

He’s also grabbed some clogs — not to wear but to look at — and he notes that his wife “hates them,” but he’s happily in awe of the pair.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Sennish said that the crew happily explained the parameters of their work.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• blissfully 
• blithely 
• cheerfully www.thesaurus.com
• contentedly www.thesaurus.com
• enthusiastically 
• freely 
• gladly 
• gleefully 
• graciously 
• heartily 
• joyfully www.thesaurus.com
• joyously www.thesaurus.com
• lovingly www.thesaurus.com
• merrily 
• peacefully www.thesaurus.com
• playfully www.thesaurus.com
• willingly