greatly

adv

Etymology: From Middle English gretly, gretely, gretliche, greteliche, equivalent to great + -ly.

1. To a great extent or degree.

   “Expenses greatly exceeded revenues this year, much to nobody's surprise.”

   “He was more greatly beloved than anyone in living memory.”

2. Nobly; magnanimously.

   “His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him; Greatly unfortunate, he fights the Cauſe Of Honour, Virtue, Liberty, and Rome.”

   “But all this our fisher, who was neither a poet, nor a dependent, did not know, so he concluded, that all who were truly great, were truly greatly minded, and noble in soul, as they were exalted by birth, and rich in splendour.”