Heartily

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Heartily

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

adverb

Pronunciation

HAR-tuh-lee  /ˈhɑːtɪli/

Definition

In a hearty manner; with genuine enthusiasm, vigour, or warmth; thoroughly or completely (heartily sick of something); sincerely (heartily agree, heartily recommend).

Plain meaning

Heartily means with wholehearted enthusiasm or sincerity. To laugh heartily is to laugh with full, genuine vigour. To be heartily sick of something means to be thoroughly and completely fed up with it. To heartily recommend means to do so sincerely and without reservation.

Register

Neutral to slightly old-fashioned. Heartily is not as common as enthusiastically or thoroughly in contemporary speech but remains perfectly standard. It has a slight Victorian warmth to it that makes it particularly at home in descriptions of vigorous enjoyment, wholehearted agreement, or emphatic complaint.