adv
Meaning 1
Without fail.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- slowly but surely
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
surely
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈʃɔːli/ pour–poor merger
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/ˈʃʊəli/ without the pour–poor merger
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US: /ˈʃʊɹli/
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US: /ˈʃɔɹli/
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US: /ˈʃɝli/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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homophone: Shirley (in some dialects)
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rhymes with -ʊə(ɹ)li
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rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)li
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CMU ARPABET: SH UH1 R L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adv
Meaning 2
Certainly, undoubtedly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: sentence adverb
Examples
- Surely, you must be joking.
- You don’t suppose we're going to pay for you, surely?
- She’s surely got the letter by now.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 3
With confidence.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- His feet were planted surely on the ground.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 4
definitely or positively (`sure' is sometimes used informally for `surely')
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the results are surely encouraging
- she certainly is a hard worker
- it's going to be a good day for sure
- they are coming, for certain
- they thought he had been killed sure enough
- he'll win sure as shooting
- they sure smell good
- sure he'll come
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: certainly, sure, for sure, for certain, sure enough, sure as shooting
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English surely; equivalent to sure + -ly.
Across languages
Translations
77 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: сигурно (sigurno) — without fail
- Catalan: segurament — without fail
- Finnish: varmasti — without fail
- French: sûrement — without fail
- German: bestimmt — without fail
- German: sicherlich — without fail
- Japanese: 必ず (kanarazu) — without fail
- Japanese: きっと (kitto) — without fail
- Korean: 반드시 (bandeusi) — without fail
- Norwegian: sikkert — without fail
- Polish: pewnie — without fail
- Russian: обяза́тельно (objazátelʹno) — without fail
- Telugu: తప్పక (tappaka) — without fail
- Arabic: بِالتَّأْكِيد (bi-t-taʔkīd) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Armenian: անկասկած (ankaskac) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Bulgarian: несъмнено (nesǎmneno) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Catalan: segurament — certainly, undoubtedly
- Chinese Mandarin: 一定 (yídìng) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Dutch: zeker — certainly, undoubtedly
- Dutch: vast — certainly, undoubtedly
- Dutch: zeker weten — certainly, undoubtedly
- Esperanto: certe — certainly, undoubtedly
- Estonian: kindlalt — certainly, undoubtedly
- Estonian: kindlasti — certainly, undoubtedly
- Finnish: varmasti — certainly, undoubtedly
- Finnish: vakavasti — certainly, undoubtedly
- French: sûrement — certainly, undoubtedly
- French: assurément — certainly, undoubtedly
- German: sicherlich — certainly, undoubtedly
- Greek: σίγουρα (sígoura) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Ancient Greek: δήπου (dḗpou) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Icelandic: vissulega — certainly, undoubtedly
- Italian: sicuramente — certainly, undoubtedly
- Japanese: 確かに (tashika ni) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Japanese: てっきり (tekkiri) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Khmer: ប្រាកដជា (praakɑat cie) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Latin: certē — certainly, undoubtedly
- Latin: quippe — certainly, undoubtedly
- Latvian: droši — certainly, undoubtedly
- Livonian: julgstiz — certainly, undoubtedly
- Macedonian: сигурно (sigurno) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Norwegian: sikkert — certainly, undoubtedly
- Pohnpeian: ahpw — certainly, undoubtedly
- Polish: z pewnością — certainly, undoubtedly
- Polish: na pewno — certainly, undoubtedly
- Polish: niewątpliwie — certainly, undoubtedly
- Portuguese: certamente — certainly, undoubtedly
- Portuguese: seguramente — certainly, undoubtedly
- Russian: наверняка́ (navernjaká) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Russian: коне́чно (konéčno) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Russian: несомне́нно (nesomnénno) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Slovak: určite — certainly, undoubtedly
- Spanish: seguramente — certainly, undoubtedly
- Spanish: deber de — certainly, undoubtedly
- Spanish: seguro que — certainly, undoubtedly
- Spanish: fijo que — certainly, undoubtedly
- Spanish: de seguro — certainly, undoubtedly
- Spanish: haber de — certainly, undoubtedly
- Swedish: säkerligen — certainly, undoubtedly
- Swedish: säkert — certainly, undoubtedly
- Swedish: minsann — certainly, undoubtedly
- Tagalog: tiyak — certainly, undoubtedly
- Tagalog: sigurado — certainly, undoubtedly
- Tagalog: piho — certainly, undoubtedly
- Tocharian B: nemcek — certainly, undoubtedly
- Ukrainian: зві́сно (zvísno) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Ukrainian: безсумні́вно (bezsumnívno) — certainly, undoubtedly
- Bulgarian: уверено (uvereno) — with confidence
- Finnish: tukevasti — with confidence
- Finnish: lujasti — with confidence
- French: sûrement — with confidence
- French: assurément — with confidence
- Norwegian: trygt — with confidence
- Norwegian: sikkert — with confidence
- Polish: pewnie — with confidence
- Russian: уве́ренно (uvérenno) — with confidence
- Swedish: minsann — with confidence
Real reading context