heavily

adverb

heavi·​ly ˈhe-və-lē How to pronounce heavily (audio)
1
: to a great degree : severely
2
: slowly and laboriously : dully
3
archaic : with sorrow : grievously
4
: in a heavy manner

Examples of heavily in a Sentence

He relies heavily on his wife for advice. These artists borrow heavily from Picasso. Our flowers were heavily damaged by a late spring frost. She drank and smoked heavily for years. He sat down heavily on the couch. He was leaning heavily on the table. She sighed heavily then said “Okay, I'll do it.” See More
Recent Examples on the Web While the recent drama seems to be focused around Cabral and Aydin, last season's focus was heavily centered on the Gorga/Giudice family divide. Kelly Martinez, Peoplemag, 26 Sep. 2023 Alameda provided legitimacy by trading heavily on the new platform—an arrangement that also created conditions for Alameda to receive favorable treatment (possibly by being able to see what trades others on the exchange were making). Sheelah Kolhatkar, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023 While Ukrainian troops have breached Russia’s heavily fortified first defensive lines in the south and made progress in the east, with winter approaching the Ukrainian military has yet to achieve a decisive breakthrough. Leila Sackur, NBC News, 23 Sep. 2023 Besties featured heavily in this week's best fashion Instagrams, proving that two is often better than one. Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 23 Sep. 2023 Many top athletes had already committed to other schools, and critics say New College recruited students heavily from Christian schools. Patricia Mazzei, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2023 In heavily unionized industries, workers have thus far managed to fend off some job losses. WIRED, 22 Sep. 2023 But the $100 million fighter jet wasn't found until more than 24 hours later approximately 60 miles north of Joint Base Charleston, missing some heavily populated areas. Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 22 Sep. 2023 This adviser said Trump has been heavily focused on the campaign, notably spending hours in the minutiae of advertisements, but has not viewed nonstop travel as necessary thus far. Hannah Knowles, Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heavily.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of heavily was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near heavily

Cite this Entry

“Heavily.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heavily. Accessed 30 Sep. 2023.

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