verily
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of verily
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at very, -ly
Explanation
Use the adverb verily when you need an old-fashioned way to say "certainly." For example, you might say, "I verily believe that's the ugliest sweater I've ever seen." You can use the word verily to mean "truthfully," although people may not know what you're talking about, since it's mostly found in very old-fashioned writing, from the Bible to Shakespeare. In fact, Shakespeare is probably the writer most associated with the word verily: "Verily, I swear, 'tis better to be lowly born," he writes in "Henry VIII." The root is Middle English combination of very and ly, originally verraily.
Vocabulary lists containing verily
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 4
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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.
And yet, verily, my soul is filled with confusion.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 8, 2023
It is a tragicomedy, a hybrid of past and present, a pastiche and an original yarn, a verily fun and achingly melancholy novel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2021
An article in The Muskogee Comet, a Black newspaper, from June 23, 1904, proclaimed that the Tulsa area “may verily be called the Eden of the West for the colored people.”
From New York Times ● May 25, 2021
We believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 16, 2021
I wanted to hear a big voice on the phone say “Yea, verily, this is me, God. It’s all good, my man, and will be ultracool in the end. Don’t worry about it.”
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
