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Synonyms

truly

American  
[troo-lee] / ˈtru li /

adverb

  1. in accordance with fact or truth; truthfully.

    Whatever his faults, he lived a life that can be truly said to be significant.

  2. legitimately; by right.

    Those assets and properties are no longer truly his.

  3. really; genuinely; honestly.

    We're truly sorry for the delay.

  4. to the fullest extent or degree.

    The property should be viewed to truly appreciate all it has to offer.

  5. to a great extent or degree.

    The film is littered with some truly dreadful sequences.

  6. sincerely (a conventional term used at the end of a letter).

    Yours truly, Allan Burns.

  7. exactly; accurately; correctly.

    The clock runs truly.

  8. rightly; properly; duly.

    To truly worship God, we must know Him and not be ignorant of His glorious nature.

  9. indeed; without doubt; verily.

    Truly, she is a fair-haired angel.

  10. Archaic. faithfully; loyally.

truly British  
/ ˈtruːlɪ /

adverb

  1. in a true, just, or faithful manner

  2. (intensifier)

    a truly great man

  3. indeed; really

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of truly

First recorded before 1000; Middle English treuli, Old English trēowlīce; tru(e) + -ly ( def. )

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.

Still we wait for England's batting to truly fire at this tournament.

From BBC

She added: "Our Schools White Paper presents the blueprint for opportunity for the next generation, with an education system that truly serves every child, whatever their needs and wherever in the country they grow up."

From BBC

But trot's glory days appeared to be well and truly over, with many young people viewing the genre as tacky and old-fashioned.

From BBC

She added that while the RSC had a history of creating epic battles, "anything that's of this scale and... truly epic takes a while to bring to the stage".

From BBC

"It's truly hard," a mother-of-eight in al-Mughayyir tells me, explaining that the schools there also close when settlers or soldiers are nearby because of fears for the children.

From BBC

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.