happily

[ hap-uh-lee ]

adverb

1. in a happy manner; with pleasure.
2. by good fortune; providentially; luckily.
3. felicitously; appropriately; aptly:

   a happily turned phrase.

Other Words From

• over·happi·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of happily¹

A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; happy, -ly

Idioms and Phrases

see live happily ever after .

Example Sentences

Charlotte’s a fool for love, but this attitude leads her to her imperfectly perfect happily-ever-after.

From Washington Post

My husband was kind of on board with wanting to have a business, so we also had to figure out a way to have a business where we’re able to work together but separately, so that we can stay happily married.

From Ozy

The Long Song is weak where A Suitable Boy is strong, but happily it’s also strong where A Suitable Boy is weak—in the level of nuance its storytelling achieves.

From Time

Marian’s mind was blown by this probability-zero event, and they lived happily ever after.

From FiveThirtyEight

There are just certain parts of us that are wired to want to pet something furry and hear a heartbeat — both boxes this strange little robot happily checks.

From TechCrunch

We happily hoist our egg nog in the air, embrace each other, and raise our out-of-tune voices in song.

From The Daily Beast

Klaus espouses inflammatory views on a variety of subjects, some of which Cato happily embraced.

From The Daily Beast

Happily, the people at Atari dislike lurkers almost as much as I do.

From The Daily Beast

Into the Woods takes on the responsibility of saying, “Stuff happens after happily ever after.”

From The Daily Beast

Musician Chris Picco was on top of the world just a week ago, happily married and with a son on the way.

From The Daily Beast

William has thus been happily able to report to the society the approaching conversion of M'Bongo and his imminent civilization.

From Project Gutenberg

And in the midst of his speculations, overpowered by fatigue, he fell asleep, and ate his breakfast next morning very happily.

From Project Gutenberg

The cow happily recovered, which the widow entirely attributed to the efficacy of her pastor's prayer.

From Project Gutenberg

Happily the owner of the house recognized Mr. Mayne, and then he bestirred himself.

From Project Gutenberg

Happily, if only incidentally, such self-defence involved the championship of the independence of Scotland.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• blissfully
• blithely
• cheerfully
• contentedly
• enthusiastically
• freely
• gladly
• gleefully
• graciously
• heartily
• joyfully
• joyously
• lovingly
• merrily
• peacefully
• playfully
• willingly