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bigly

[ big-lee ]
/ ˈbɪg li /
Archaic.

adverb

in a big way; greatly: Their gifts made the children smile bigly. Aaron was tall for his age, and bigly built.
strongly; with violent force: Waves pounded bigly against our starboard side.
boastfully; haughtily: She pronounces her opinions bigly, as if they are divine mandates.

adjective

pleasantly habitable: a settlement of modest but bigly homes.

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Origin of bigly

1350–1400; Middle English; see big1 + -ly

usage note for bigly

Adding the suffix -ly is a thoroughly standard way to form an adverb from an adjective. However, although bigly was in use from about 1400 to the early 1900s, it never quite caught on in English, perhaps because the adjective big also quite adequately functions as an adverb: to win big.

Words nearby bigly

bighead, bighorn, bighorn mountains, bight, bigleaf maple, bigly, bigmouth, bigmouth buffalofish, bigmouthed, bigness, bignonia
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

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