as in intentionally
with full awareness of what one is doing
the real estate agent purposely withheld information that would have discouraged us from buying the property
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Recent Examples of purposely
Maybe the bee wasn't purposely directing the ball towards the reward.
—
Ari Daniel, NPR, 7 June 2026
At one point Norris, the reigning world champion and last year’s Monaco winner, was asked by his team to purposely slow down and hold up Russell to try to help McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
—Sahil Kapur, NBC news, 7 June 2026
Every decision in Wemby’s World is calibrated and purposely restrained.
—Jared Weiss, New York Times, 5 June 2026
The Importance of Renovating Slowly Smith has purposely gone slow in her renovation, leaving room for happy accidents.
—Caroline Utz, The Spruce, 2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for purposely
Ari Daniel, NPR, 7 June 2026
At one point Norris, the reigning world champion and last year’s Monaco winner, was asked by his team to purposely slow down and hold up Russell to try to help McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
—Sahil Kapur, NBC news, 7 June 2026
Every decision in Wemby’s World is calibrated and purposely restrained.
—Jared Weiss, New York Times, 5 June 2026
The Importance of Renovating Slowly Smith has purposely gone slow in her renovation, leaving room for happy accidents.
—Caroline Utz, The Spruce, 2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for purposely
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purposely
Adverb
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The Justice Department said last month that UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine intentionally used race for the last three years to discriminate against white and Asian applicants during admissions.—
Andrew J. Campa,
Los Angeles Times,
11 June 2026
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The collection launched Thursday at Christian Louboutin Mount Street boutique in London, with availability intentionally limited to that location before the pairs are offered by appointment at Coco d’Adda’s Milan atelier.—
Jaden Thompson,
Footwear News,
11 June 2026
Adverb
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Adding scientists to the corps in the late 1960s, and deliberately recruiting women and Black astronauts in the 1970s, were widely hailed as steps the agency was taking back then towards diversity.—
Elizabeth Howell,
Space.com,
10 June 2026
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Although the 78 skeletons found piled atop one another in Vráble could suggest some kind of massacre took place, the researchers said their analyses so far indicate they were deliberately interred that way, potentially as part of a Neolithic cultural tradition.—
Emily Mae Czachor,
CBS News,
9 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Purposely.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purposely. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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