adversely
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adversely
Explanation
When something affects you adversely, it's harmful or negative. Holding a cinder block will adversely affect your running speed. When you talk about things that are acting adversely, they are harming something or holding it back in some way. Not getting enough sleep will adversely affect your performance in school. Rain will adversely affect an outdoor wedding. Anything that's making things worse instead of better is adversely influencing the situation. Adversely means something close to badly or harmfully. So when you see this word, you know something is going wrong.
Vocabulary lists containing adversely
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ly
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167 Vocabulary words from the Supreme Court's DOMA Decision
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Vocabulary from the Seventh Democratic Debate, March 6, 2016
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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.
"We undertook this study to determine if vanillin, a flavor chemical often used in e-cigarettes at high concentrations, could adversely affect the development of young embryos in humans."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
The United Farm Workers, along with more than a dozen farmworkers, filed a federal lawsuit in California challenging a new Labor Department rule they argue will “undercut and adversely affect” wages paid to U.S. workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
It said it "recognises that prolonged wildfire incidents have the potential to adversely affect local air quality, particularly through increased levels of smoke and particulate matter".
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The retailer said it has been adversely affected by the scrapping in 2025 of a tariff exemption for low-value goods entering the U.S., leading to an increase in fulfillment expenses and weighing on overall revenues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Some very recent work indicates that reproduction of birds may be adversely affected by these and certain other herbicides at levels far below those that cause death.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
