highly

[ hahy-lee ]

adverb

1. in or to a high degree; extremely:

   highly amusing; highly seasoned food.

2. with high appreciation or praise; admiringly:

   to speak highly of a person.

3. more than adequately; generously:

   a highly paid consultant.

highly

/ ˈhaɪlɪ /

adverb

1. (intensifier)

   highly pleased

   highly disappointed

2. with great approbation or favour

   we spoke highly of it

3. in a high position

   placed highly in class

4. at or for a high price or cost

Word History and Origins

Origin of highly¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English heihliche, Old English hēalīce; equivalent to high + -ly

Example Sentences

“I expect our guys to be highly competitive. Said this a number of times last year, you don’t need to give a reason to competitive people to compete,” he said Wednesday after the Lakers’ third straight win.

From Los Angeles Times

But I never feared for my life from Trump or his staff, some of whom were highly professional and tried against all odds to get information to the press corps — unlike the Biden administration, which routinely ignored us and paid a high price for doing so.

From Salon

But the right wing of Israeli politics has welcomed the president-elect’s appointment of Huckabee, seeing it as predicting another term of American policy highly favourable to their longstanding aims of holding on to territory in the West Bank and expanding settlements.

From BBC

The movie hits theaters Nov. 22, alongside the highly anticipated “Wicked.”

From Los Angeles Times

More questionable, however, is whether UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego will still give an additional 902 California students highly coveted seats in place of out-of-state and international students if the state cuts back funding that offsets the loss of the higher tuition that nonresidents pay.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• decidedly
• deeply
• eminently
• exceedingly
• exceptionally
• extraordinarily
• extremely
• greatly
• hugely
• immensely
• profoundly
• really
• remarkably
• so
• strikingly
• supremely
• terribly
• tremendously
• vastly
• very much