adversely
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Derived 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.
"When beef is consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern, it helps fill essential nutritional gaps and does not adversely impact the cardiometabolic risk profile compared to poultry."
From Science Daily • May 22, 2026
GameStop’s earnings report warns that it has “incurred substantial indebtedness that may decrease our business flexibility” and “we may still incur substantially more debt, which may adversely affect our operations and financial results.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
The IMO council said in its declaration that members "strongly condemned the threats and attacks against vessels and purported closure of the Strait... by Iran, adversely affecting merchant and commercial vessels".
From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026
This is in addition to other crises that had been adversely affecting businesses and people.
From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026
Not being noticed at all was better than being noticed adversely.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
