Link Centre Dictionary

dearly

UK/ˈdɪəli/ US/ˈdɪɹli/ fairly common

adverb

1.

in a sincere and heartfelt manner

  • “I would dearly love to know”
Synonyms
2.

at a great cost

  • “he paid dearly for the food”
  • “this cost him dear”
Synonyms
3.

with affection

  • “she loved him dearly”
  • “he treats her affectionately”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English derely, deorliche, from Old English dēorlīċe (“worthily, richly”), equivalent to dear + -ly.

Phrases

  • dearly departed
  • pay dearly
  • sell dearly
  • sell one's life dearly

Related words

Word family

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.