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happily

/ˈhæpəli/
/ˈhæpɪli/
IPA guide

Do something happily and you'll be cheerful and lighthearted. It can lift your spirits just to hear your friend whistling happily as she walks down the sidewalk with a smile on her face.

If you're happy to do something, you'll do it happily. Most of us will happily finish that last piece of cake or happily cuddle a tiny puppy. A second meaning of this adverb is "fortunately," so you could say, "Happily, I shut the front door before your cat got out!" This definition dates from the late 14th century — earlier, people used happily to mean "accidentally." And of course the very happiest stories end with "they lived happily ever after."

Definitions of happily
  1. adverb
    in a joyous manner
    “they shouted happily
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    antonyms:
    unhappily
    in an unpleasant way
  2. adverb
    in an unexpectedly lucky way
    happily he was not injured”
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    antonyms:
    sadly
    in an unfortunate way
Pronunciation
US
/ˈhæpəli/
UK
/ˈhæpɪli/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘happily'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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