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comfortably

UK/ˈkʌmf(ə)təbli/US/ˈkʌmftɚbli/
adverbB22 meaningsCommon in everyday speech and writing · #6,916 of 15,258neutral

Comfortably means in a way that gives ease — or with room to spare. Physical comfort and a comfortable margin.

The physical sense covers sitting, sleeping and dressing, so settling comfortably into a chair is the plain use. The margin sense is where the word does most of its work in reporting, since winning comfortably, comfortably ahead and comfortably within budget all mean there was never any doubt. There is a third use about money, and living comfortably means having enough not to worry, which is a very English way of avoiding saying rich.

Definitions of comfortably

  1. 1adverbcomfortablyIn a way that gives physical ease.B2

    “He was sitting comfortably by the fire.”

  2. 2adverbclearWith a clear margin, without difficulty.B2

    “They won comfortably in the end.”

Where it comes from

  1. Old French

    confortable

  2. Middle English

    comfortable

  3. English

    comfortable

  4. English, today

    comfortably

From comfortable + -ly. comfortable comes from Middle English comfortable, from Old French confortable, from conforter. by surface analysis, comfort + -able.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 36 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

Related words

the confortable family

comfortableuncomfortable

comfortably — used about once every 2,254 pages · #6,916 · point at the bar for the others

  • comfort
  • discomfort
  • uncomfortably