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steadily

UK/ˈstɛdɪli/US/ˈstɛdɪli/
adverbB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,770 of 15,258leans written

Steadily means at an even and continuing rate. Rise steadily, work steadily, steadily improving.

The word carries both parts, evenness and continuation, which is why steadily rising is different from sharply rising and different again from rising. It is the word forecasts and reports reach for constantly.

Definitions of steadily

  1. 1adverbsteadilyAt an even and continuing rate.B2+

    “House prices have risen steadily over the past ten years.”

steadily is a manner.

Where it comes from

  1. Middle Dutch

    stēdig

  2. Old English

    stæþþiġ

  3. Middle English

    stedy

  4. English

    steady

  5. English, today

    steadily

Built from

  • ġestæþþiġ · Old English — steadfast, stable, firm, staid

From steady + -ly. steady comes from Middle English stedy, studi, stidiȝ, perhaps continuing Old English stæþþiġ, ġestæþþiġ (“steadfast, stable, firm, staid”), equivalent to stead + y; or calquing Middle Low German - or Middle Dutch stēdig. Cognate with stq stoadig (“steady”), West Frisian stadich (“slow”), Danish stedig, stadig, steeg, Swedish stadig, Icelandic stöðugur, German stätig, stetig. Compare also Old English ġestedegian (“to bring to a standstill”) and Dutch steeds (“more and more”). Adjective sense 8 is a nan-hbl-SG 在 (“confident, skilled”) literally “steady”.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

steadily in the wild

  • Generally, provinces steadily grew in population along with Canada.

    Population of Canada by province and territory

  • Since, the population has slowly and steadily increased.

    Marsh harrier

  • As of 2024, Saurimo has a population of 589,792, which steadily grows as a result of migration.

    Saurimo

  • The village was re-populated for a time in the 1970s by hippy communities, and in recent years the population has been steadily increasing.

    Ystumtuen

  • Since its first discovery, this comet's orbital period has steadily increased due to repeated close encounters with Jupiter.

    33P/Daniel

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the stēdig family

steady

steadily — used about once every 2,837 pages · #7,770 · point at the bar for the others

  • stead