Link Centre Dictionary

mightily

migh·tily

UK/ˈmaɪtɪli/ US/ˈmaɪtɪli/ rare informal literary obsolete

adverb

1.

powerfully or vigorously

  • “he strove mightily to achieve a better position in life”
2.

to a great degree

  • “rejoiced mightily at the news”

Origin

From Middle English mightili (“with might, powerfully, strongly; forcefully, violently; greatly; etc.”), from Old English meahtiglice (“with might, powerfully, mightily”), from meahtiġ, mihtiġ (“powerful, mighty”) + -līċe (suffix forming adverbs). Mihtiġ is derived from Proto-Germanic *mahtīgaz (“mighty”), from *mahtiz (“force, strength; ability, power”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”)) + *-gaz (suffix with the sense ‘being; doing; having’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, mighty + -ly (suffix forming adverbs).

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.