greatly

From Middle English gretly, gretely, gretliche, greteliche, equivalent to great +‎ -ly.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪtli/

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• Rhymes: -eɪtli

greatly (comparative greatlier or greater or more greatly, superlative greatliest or greatest or most greatly)

1. To a great extent or degree.

   Synonyms: very, drastically

   Expenses greatly exceeded revenues this year.

   He was more greatly beloved than anyone in living memory.

   • 1918, W B Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

   • 2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport:

     Terry's goal looked to have put Chelsea in control on the stroke of half-time but Arsenal's response presented a compelling case for Wenger's insistence that reports of his side's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

   • 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 56:

     Instead of retracing my route, I have elected to walk across Blackpool to the town's remaining large station, although even this has been greatly reduced in size.

2. (archaic) Nobly; magnanimously.
   • 1712 (date written), Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:

     His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him;
     Greatly unfortunate, he fights the Cauſe
     Of Honour, Virtue, Liberty, and Rome.

   • 1823, Catherine George Ward, The Cottage on the Cliff: A Sea-side Story, page 251:

     But all this our fisher, who was neither a poet, nor a dependent, did not know, so he concluded, that all who were truly great, were truly greatly minded, and noble in soul, as they were exalted by birth, and rich in splendour.

• (to a great extent): above a bit (Chester)

• (antonym(s) of “to a great extent”): slightly

• lytarge, graylet

From Middle English gretly, equivalent to graat +‎ -ly.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɾiːˈtliː/

greatly

1. greatly
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Ich as (or 'chas) greatly blin.

     I was greatly mistaken.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 26