decisively

[dih-sahy-siv-lee]

adverb

1. in a way that settles a matter and puts an end to debate or speculation.

   The question, "Do habitable conditions for life exist elsewhere in the galaxy?" has been decisively answered in the affirmative.

2. in a firm and resolute way, without wavering.

   The Executive Office must be able to move quickly and decisively to preserve endangered ecosystems, history, or prehistory on federal land.

3. in a clear or definite way; indisputably.

   She has not only decisively beaten but ended the political career of every candidate who ran against her.

Other Word Forms

• nondecisively adverb
• predecisively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of decisively¹

decisive ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Yet no one can say they’ve decisively decoded what the show is trying to tell us.

Read more on Salon

But if the continent deploys the technology decisively across its key industries, "Europe can turn a late start into a competitive edge", she emphasised.

Read more on Barron's

For Australia to fight back and win the first Ashes Test as decisively as they did, you wonder what scars will be left on the England team.

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That phrase separates Americans of today most decisively from the distant 18th-century world.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This week, Israel's chief of staff said he strongly condemned the recent violence by Israeli settlers, calling it "a red line" and promising to "act decisively".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• actually 
• categorically 
• definitely 
• doubtless 
• exactly 
• positively 
• precisely 
• really 
• surely 
• truly 
• unconditionally 
• unquestionably