Purely
adj, adv ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Well, in good health. dialectal, predicative
"My Dame (who was an utter ſtranger to all that had paſſed between the young Squire and her daughter) was exceeding glad to ſee him look ſo purely after his journey, and all the young fry ſwarmed about him, for the ſake of the halfpence they had ſo often ſcrambled for; […]"
- 1 Wholly; really, completely. US, regional
"I am fascinated by the entire scene, I purely am."
- 2 Solely; exclusively; merely, simply.
"The IRA should "lead by example" and "unilaterally" abandon paramilitary violence and adopt a purely political strategy, a leading Sinn Féin MP urged yesterday."
- 3 Chastely, innocently; in a sinless manner, without fault.
"faith and troth, / Strain'd purely from all hollow bias drawing: / Bids thee with most diuine integritie, / From heart of very heart, great Hector welcome."
- 4 Without physical adulterants; refinedly, with no admixture. archaic
"By some means or other the water flows purely, and separated from the filth, in a deeper and narrower course on one side of the rock, and the refuse of the dirt and troubled water goes off on the other in a broader current [...]."
- 1 restricted to something wordnet
Example
More examples"Rows of houses, each of them different and pleasing with their spacious gardens, are replaced by purely functional blocks of flats which have nothing more to commend them than over-praised 'modern conveniences'."
Etymology
From Middle English purely, equivalent to pure + -ly.
From pure + -ly.
Related phrases
More for "purely"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.