adverb
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with ease; without difficulty or exertion
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by far; beyond question; undoubtedly
he is easily the best in the contest
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probably; almost certainly
he may easily come first
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of easily
First recorded in 1250–1300, easily is from the Middle English word esily. See easy, -ly
Explanation
Things that happen easily don't require a lot of effort. When your old car starts easily on a very cold morning, you'll breathe a sigh of relief. While you can only climb a mountain with difficulty, you can probably climb the stairs in your house easily. You can also use this adverb to mean something closer to "quickly," as when you describe your puppy as easily distracted with treats or yourself as easily bored by long books. The Old French root of easily is aisie, "comfortable" or "at ease."
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.
They also say bans can be easily circumvented.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026
The museum had designated one central tree to be the official “Wish Tree” and it had built an elevated platform around the trunk base, so visitors could reach the branches more easily.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
Recent discoveries also suggest that nature may produce MN-zymes more easily than previously thought.
From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026
Track how you feel when you’re using an LLM for something just as easily done without one.
From Salon • Jun. 10, 2026
At the end of the day she raced Masahiro home and won easily.
From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr
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.
