Happily

//ˈhæp.ɪ.li// adv

adv ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a happy or cheerful manner; with happiness.

    "This time next month I’ll be happily fishing at the beach."

  2. 2
    By good chance; fortunately, successfully.

    "Watt wore, on his feet, a boot, brown in colour, and a shoe, happily of a brownish colour also."

  3. 3
    With good will; in all happiness; willingly.

    "I will happily help you look for your lost wallet."

  4. 4
    By chance; perhaps. archaic

    "And who knoweth whether a thousand yeares hence a third opinion will rise, which happily shall overthrow these two precedents?"

Adverb
  1. 1
    in an unexpectedly lucky way wordnet
  2. 2
    in a joyous manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
jubilantlycheerfullygladlyjoyouslyagreeablyairily

Example

More examples

"Everybody in the picture is smiling happily."

Etymology

From Middle English happily, happyly, happyliche, happylyche, equivalent to happy + -ly.

Related phrases

happily ever after

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.