1
as in courageously
in a fearless manner
struggled heroically to raise three children on her meager salary
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2
as in honorably
in a manner befitting a person of the highest character and ideals
doctors and nurses worked heroically through the night to keep the patient alive
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Recent Examples of heroically
Just weeks after heroically saving a neighbor’s choking 1-year-old girl, an NYPD officer was at it again, saving the life of a 2-year-old boy who had stopped breathing in his Bronx home.
—
Barry Williams, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2026
First into his life comes Jessie involved in a shipwreck with her uncle, a past colleague of Mason’s, who drowns in a vicious storm and almost takes Jessie down with him before she is heroically rescued from near death by Mason, who brings her out of the drink and then back to life.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 28 Jan. 2026
Kendricks heroically broke up a fourth-down pass to seal the 49ers’ wild-card win in his first 49ers’ start, making his encore even more enticing, whether his weak-side wingman is again Garret Wallow or regular-season starter Dee Winters.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 17 Jan. 2026
That’s especially if Niners star LB Fred Warner heroically returns from injury.
—Greg Cote
january 15, Miami Herald, 15 Jan. 2026
Delta Slim heroically sacrifices himself so the rest of the survivors can get away.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Jan. 2026
Efforts to calm tensions have been buoyed by the fact that the man who heroically tackled Akram, fruit shop owner Ahmed al-Ahmed, is himself a Muslim father of two.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 15 Dec. 2025
The enormous machine weighed several tons, and stories circulated about how Kagan had borrowed a tractor trailer to heroically transport the behemoth from Michigan to New Jersey.
—IEEE Spectrum, 12 Dec. 2025
An example of this emerges right at the start with Shirin’s first outburst, when Kadyr heroically rescues a goat from drowning and hands it to an old man who claims to be its owner.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Barry Williams, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2026
First into his life comes Jessie involved in a shipwreck with her uncle, a past colleague of Mason’s, who drowns in a vicious storm and almost takes Jessie down with him before she is heroically rescued from near death by Mason, who brings her out of the drink and then back to life.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 28 Jan. 2026
Kendricks heroically broke up a fourth-down pass to seal the 49ers’ wild-card win in his first 49ers’ start, making his encore even more enticing, whether his weak-side wingman is again Garret Wallow or regular-season starter Dee Winters.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 17 Jan. 2026
That’s especially if Niners star LB Fred Warner heroically returns from injury.
—Greg Cote
january 15, Miami Herald, 15 Jan. 2026
Delta Slim heroically sacrifices himself so the rest of the survivors can get away.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Jan. 2026
Efforts to calm tensions have been buoyed by the fact that the man who heroically tackled Akram, fruit shop owner Ahmed al-Ahmed, is himself a Muslim father of two.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 15 Dec. 2025
The enormous machine weighed several tons, and stories circulated about how Kagan had borrowed a tractor trailer to heroically transport the behemoth from Michigan to New Jersey.
—IEEE Spectrum, 12 Dec. 2025
An example of this emerges right at the start with Shirin’s first outburst, when Kadyr heroically rescues a goat from drowning and hands it to an old man who claims to be its owner.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heroically
Adverb
-
Inside Iran, people are openly and courageously chanting his name.—
Benjamin Weinthal,
FOXNews.com,
4 Mar. 2026
-
Williams was given the military’s highest honor for courageously taking on seven Soviet MiG aircraft over Korea in 1952 and knocking four of them out of the sky in what is widely regarded as one of the longest and toughest aerial dogfights in the history of the Navy.—
Gary Robbins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
25 Feb. 2026
Adverb
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Dunk eventually became Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, serving honorably and admirably.—
James Grebey,
Vulture,
23 Feb. 2026
-
He was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant but was never deployed.—
Kaitlin McCallum,
Hartford Courant,
12 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
Play bravely so joy recharges your creative core.—
Tarot.com,
The Orlando Sentinel,
28 Feb. 2026
-
They were placed mid-orchestra, behind the violas and bravely in front of the timpani.—
Classical Music Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
Showrunner Bruce Miller says the series is rooted firmly in the television universe fans already know — not a straight adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel.—
Hanna Wickes,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Mar. 2026
-
For Farah, who says he was firmly convinced by his Age of Disclosure documentary participants, the real-world disclosure movement and the pop cultural side naturally travel hand in hand.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
At times, Fedorova’s valiantly open-minded kinksters can seem blinkered in their own way.—
Lillian Fishman,
New Yorker,
25 Feb. 2026
-
What a victory, as Canada valiantly pushed the United States to the limit despite the fact that this juggernaut had shut out five opponents in a row and wound up 7-0, outscoring those seven teams an amazing 33-2.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Heroically.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heroically. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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