exponentially

American  

[ek-spoh-nen-shuh-lee, -spuh-] / ˌɛk spoʊˈnɛn ʃə li, -spə- /

adverb

1. at a steady, rapid rate.

   The cost of a college education has increased exponentially over the last 30 years.

2. Mathematics. at a continuous rate of growth or decay that can be calculated using the constant e, according to the rules of raising e to the power of a positive or negative exponent.

   Any population growing exponentially must, sooner or later, encounter shortages of resources.

   The measurable rate at which a radioactive nuclide’s atoms decay exponentially is the basis of radiometric dating.

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Other Word Forms

• nonexponentially
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of exponentially

exponential ( def. ) + -ly

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Explanation

Use exponentially when you want to say that something's increasing quickly by large amounts. Your friends and colleagues will be pleased to hear that your vocabulary is growing exponentially. The root of exponentially is the French verb exponere, meaning “to put out.” Think of a factory that puts out so many products its creations seem to increase exponentially. The mathematical origin of this word has to do with multiplying a number by itself so think also of rabbits, who are known for multiplying exponentially. Now imagine if rabbits worked in a factory... (No animals were harmed during this explanation).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

exponentially

Crucially, Quantinuum said its error-correcting approach relies on comparatively fewer qubits to achieve the same effect and that it will improve exponentially with scale.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

Underlying much of this concern was implicit or explicit acceptance of the Malthusian idea that whereas population has the potential to grow exponentially, it is kept constantly under check by its capacity to feed itself.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

Zhu noted that while the processing power of chips has gotten exponentially faster, network bandwidth speeds haven’t kept pace.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

The amount of money saved by convicted defendants during his second term is exponentially higher.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026

“If you can commit to doing these drills, you will be building your craft exponentially and getting ahead of the competition,” he said.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

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Related Words

• considerably
• dramatically
• markedly
• rapidly
• significantly
• substantially

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