Library / English Dictionary

CERTAINLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Definitely or positively ('sure' is sometimes used informally for 'surely')

Example:

sure he'll come

Synonyms:

certainly; for certain; for sure; sure; sure as shooting; sure enough; surely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Pertainym:

certain (established beyond doubt or question; definitely known)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A characteristic used to qualify the adverse event as certainly related to the medical intervention.

(Definitely Related to Intervention, NCI Thesaurus)

Yes; she would certainly have been found dead at the door in the morning had she been left out all night.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Well, these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Jo Anne Val Tilburg of the University of California, Los Angeles disagreed with these findings: The existence of fresh water seeps near coastal ahu is well-known and was certainly important at European contact.

(Scientists report correlation between locations of Easter Island statues and water resources, Wikinews)

No harm seemed to come of it, while the noises the gods made were certainly not threatening.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Regardless of surface texture, we can certainly see an irregular shaped world shining through.

(Rosetta Comet May Be a Contact Binary, NASA)

It was certainly proposing under difficulties, for even if he had desired to do so, Mr. Bhaer could not go down upon his knees, on account of the mud.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It is almost certainly an undescribed species and may not belong to any described genus.

(Deep Discoverer Discovers a Very Deep, Ghostlike Octopod, NOAA)

Last year’s global CO2 average reached 399 ppm, meaning that the global average in 2016 will almost certainly surpass 400 ppm.

(South Pole is last place on Earth to pass global warming milestone, NOAA)

So if the Sun has a twin, it's almost certainly not easily visible in our neighborhood.

(Our Sun Could Have Been Born With an Evil Twin Called "Nemesis", The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)