Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- By good fortune; fortunately; luckily.
- In a happy or pleasing way or state; in pleasant or fortunate circumstances; with happiness or joy.
- With address, skill, dexterity, or aptness; dexterously; felicitously; aptly; gracefully.
- By chance; peradventure; haply.
- Synonyms Haply, Happily. Haply, now rarely used in prose, means by chance; happily, by a happy chance.
- Prosperously, successfully, contentedly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb obsolete By chance; peradventure; haply.
- adverb By good fortune; fortunately; luckily.
- adverb In a happy manner or state; in happy circumstances.
- adverb With address or dexterity; gracefully; felicitously; in a manner to insure success; with success.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb archaic By chance;
perhaps . - adverb By good chance;
fortunately ,successfully . - adverb In a
happy orcheerful manner; withhappiness . - adverb With good will; in all happiness;
willingly .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb in an unexpectedly lucky way
- adverb in a joyous manner
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Though they depict pretty grim events, they usually resolve in "happily ever after."
Joanne D'Antonio: Dealing With the Bad Stuff in Life -- a Fairy Tale Can Lend a Hand to Quentin Tarantino Joanne D'Antonio 2010
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Though they depict pretty grim events, they usually resolve in "happily ever after."
Joanne D'Antonio: Dealing With the Bad Stuff in Life -- a Fairy Tale Can Lend a Hand to Quentin Tarantino Joanne D'Antonio 2010
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No matter how many times you click your little heels together and make a wish, you may not wake up Friday morning after watching Bravo's "Real Housewives of DC" finale and discover it was all a bad Technicolor dream that, happily, is over.
'Real Housewives of DC': Fat lady has not yet sung Lisa de Moraes 2010
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I'd still tune in happily if something new was about to happen.
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Kaylin happily inherited these, having been taught to knit by the ballerina, and she turned out an endless supply of garter-stitched scarves.
Places You Haunt stringmonkey 2009
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No matter how many times you click your little heels together and make a wish, you might not awaken Friday morning after watching Bravo's "Real Housewives of D.C." finale only to discover it was all a bad technicolor dream that, happily, is over.
Boffo ratings, but beige story lines for Bravo's 'Real Housewives of D.C.' Lisa de Moraes 2010
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So reading about that experience and knowing that it ends happily is a consistent element of storytelling.
2009 May « 2009
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So reading about that experience and knowing that it ends happily is a consistent element of storytelling.
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There might be a blog post along these lines, if I can find the time (the novel, happily, is occupying a lot of my time right now).
What is Literary Fiction? Hal Duncan 2009
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Also (and this is totally my own take on things, unproven by any kind of study or research), but I think that kids whose parents are divorced, separated, single, or otherwise un-Cleaver-ish might have a slight edge over those who grew up in happily-married homes.
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