adverb
-
in an insane or foolish manner
-
with great speed and energy
-
informal extremely or excessively
I love you madly
Etymology
Origin of madly
A Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at mad, -ly
Explanation
To do something madly is to do it in a frenzied or crazy way. If you oversleep, you might throw your clothes on and run madly out the door to catch your bus. If your sister has a demented, angry expression on her face, you could say that her eyes are glowing madly. If your brother is rushing around the house, trying to hastily clean it up before your parents get home, you might say that he's madly throwing things in the garbage. Madly sometimes also means "intensely" or "excessively." In Shakespeare's famous play, Romeo and Juliet love each other madly.
Vocabulary lists containing madly
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.
McInnes spent much of his night walking madly about his technical area.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Adult children watching their single mom or dad fall madly in love can experience a mix of emotions.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
On the eve of the Civil War, the Columbian Register lamented the growing likelihood of “the stars of our political firmament” being “torn from their orbits, and plunging madly about, or tilting one the other.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
After she nurses him back to health, Matt falls madly in love only to freak out when he learns about her sordid past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
The tiny girl clung madly to the rope, her eyes bulging, but Kate could do little to calm her.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
