adversely

adverb

ad·​verse·​ly ad-ˈvərs-lē 

ˈad-ˌvərs-

: in an adverse manner : in a way that is bad or harmful

Determining which drugs—if any—may have interacted adversely with others is difficult.

—Nancy Ann Jeffrey and Robert Langreth

—often used with affect

Reductions in staffing are affecting the company adversely.

Taking a loan from your retirement account may adversely affect your retirement savings, but there are instances when taking such a loan makes sense.

—Denise Appleby

Examples of adversely in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

They were more adversely affected by penalties than any team in the NFL last week. —Sam McDowell December 3, Kansas City Star, 3 Dec. 2025

Other founders of Crooked Beverage received a letter, purportedly from Madel, saying that the court order against Schenk would not adversely affect their business. —Riley Moser, CBS News, 17 Nov. 2025

Losing Anunoby for any extended period of time could adversely affect the Knicks' two-way play. —Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Nov. 2025

Not having reliable high-speed internet could adversely affect their operations and their bottom lines. —Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1593, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for adversely

• diversely
• inversely
• perversely
• reversely
• transversely
• tersely