happily
Americanadverb
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in a happy manner; with pleasure.
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by good fortune; providentially; luckily.
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felicitously; appropriately; aptly.
a happily turned phrase.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of happily
A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at happy, -ly
Explanation
Do something happily and you'll be cheerful and lighthearted. It can lift your spirits just to hear your friend whistling happily as she walks down the sidewalk with a smile on her face. If you're happy to do something, you'll do it happily. Most of us will happily finish that last piece of cake or happily cuddle a tiny puppy. A second meaning of this adverb is "fortunately," so you could say, "Happily, I shut the front door before your cat got out!" This definition dates from the late 14th century — earlier, people used happily to mean "accidentally." And of course the very happiest stories end with "they lived happily ever after."
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.
Related: My grandpa retired happily at 70 with $750K after working as a missionary.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Like a popcorn movie, the evening ended happily with a drone show in the night sky narrated by Winfrey and Jackson, and featuring images from the museum’s collection including the Cave of Altamira, N.C.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
There’s a four-page analysis of “The Reflex” by Duran Duran, a song I don’t remember being “so important” and “so powerful” on its 1984 release before happily slipping from memory shortly thereafter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"British Airways, Lufthansa, and everybody else's high fares, I'll happily offend them on a regular basis," he had added.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Good! So let’s get climbing!” declared Magic happily, as if her last outburst hadn’t even happened.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
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.
