Dictionary.com

Popular Searches

 Thesaurus.com
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.

Baroness May went on to ask about safeguarding in the Church of England, and Dame Sarah said "we are truly sorry" for the "significant safeguarding failures" within the institution.

From BBC

"I feel truly honoured. The people who have gone before me. Ridiculous. And here I am, little old me. Be careful what you wish for."

From BBC

“I truly believe whenever I do return, I’ll be a much better leader now that I’m a mom.”

From Los Angeles Times

Based in Singapore after relocating from China, Manus has sought to set itself apart from rival AI developers with what it claims can be a "truly autonomous" agent.

From BBC

“We are in truly uncharted territory for this commodity pair, with silver looking very expensive relative to oil,” Colas said.

From MarketWatch

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.