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View synonyms for surely

surely

[ shoor-lee, shur- ]

adverb

  1. firmly; unerringly; without missing, slipping, etc.
  2. undoubtedly, assuredly, or certainly:

    The results are surely encouraging.

  3. (in emphatic utterances that are not necessarily sustained by fact) assuredly:

    Surely you are mistaken.

  4. inevitably or without fail:

    Slowly but surely the end approached.

  5. yes, indeed:

    Surely, I'll go with you!



surely

/ ˈʃɔː-; ˈʃʊəlɪ /

adverb

  1. without doubt; assuredly

    things could surely not have been worse

  2. without fail; inexorably (esp in the phrase slowly but surely )
  3. sentence modifier am I not right in thinking that?; I am sure that

    surely you don't mean it?

  4. rare.
    in a sure manner
  5. archaic.
    safely; securely
  6. sentence substitute willingly; of course; yes
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Confusables Note

See sure.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of surely1

First recorded in 1300–50, surely is from the Middle English word surliche. See sure, -ly
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Example Sentences

For many coaches and athletes, such practices are surely on the wrong side of what Salazar himself once described as “the line between acceptable performance enhancement and cheating.”

After digesting the acquisitions in the pipeline, the company projected, revenues and profits would surely soar.

Van Cortlandt, or “Vanny” for insiders and posers, is home to what is surely the most storied cross-country course in the United States.

Antitrust protects competition, which surely serves the goals of stakeholder capitalism sometimes, but even healthy competition doesn’t always produce what is best for all stakeholders.

From Fortune

Keeping kids at home for six straight months is surely enough to break a person.

Without it, they say, the disease would surely kill her within two years.

Surely all this graphic talk of gastrointestinal distress is making you queasy.

If they were meaningful, we might have realized it before—surely one of these kids wore a cross, or a yarmulke, or a hijab?

Perhaps it always seems that way at the time, but surely we face our fair share right now.

They had more than enough to build fabulous new domiciles that surely at least equal their wildest dreams.

I presume the twenty-five or thirty miles at this end is unhealthy, even for natives, but it surely need not be so.

At last his anxiety reached a point where he was positive that if he received an adverse decision, it would surely kill him.

The performers and the nuns nearly died of fright, believing that their last hour had surely come.

"I do think Angel would surely want me to go, if she knew," thought Rosemary.

Had he not meant the Fleet to shove in K. must have made some reference to the second Division, surely.

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sure-handedsure of oneself