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
The mother of four allegedly confessed to purposely drowning her 4-year-old son Vincen Miller and attempting to drown her three older children — a 15-year-old girl and 18-year-old twin boys — after speaking with God.
—
Chris Spargo, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
Man’s Best Friend’s dewy charm/smarm offensive also seems purposely set to so much country music, a field shaped by its key artists’ and core audience’s Christian family values.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
Then again, the fan-favorite actor could be purposely playing coy as to the true nature of what the script states.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
Severinsen wore purposely garish suits, turning himself into a character.
—Chris Almeida, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for purposely
Chris Spargo, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
Man’s Best Friend’s dewy charm/smarm offensive also seems purposely set to so much country music, a field shaped by its key artists’ and core audience’s Christian family values.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
Then again, the fan-favorite actor could be purposely playing coy as to the true nature of what the script states.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
Severinsen wore purposely garish suits, turning himself into a character.
—Chris Almeida, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for purposely
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purposely
Adverb
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Giants pitcher Justin Verlander, who had just allowed four straight batters to hit the ball at least 97 MPH, intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani.—
Dan Freedman,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
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With a base open, Melvin elected to intentionally walk one MVP in Shohei Ohtani to get to another MVP in Betts.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
13 Sep. 2025
Adverb
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Bluesky, part of the decentralized internet, is slower paced and caters to niche interests, rewarding internecine fights over minutiae, whereas X is deliberately chaotic, encouraging the gathering of follower-armies and ideological insult-comedy for an audience that may be largely made up of bots.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
10 Sep. 2025
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People can deliberately cultivate more conscientiousness, boost their sociability or soften their neurotic edges.—
Dave Winsborough,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Purposely.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purposely. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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