greatly
- 1Considerably, or to a high or marked degree.
The committee's decision greatly affected the outcome of the project.
Attendance greatly exceeded the organizers' expectations this year.
Similarvery, drastically
Oppositeslightly, marginally
Note
Middle English already had it as gretly, simply great plus -ly, and it still compares like one: more greatly and most greatly are the usual forms (he was more greatly beloved). Greater and greatest occasionally serve the adverb too, while greatlier and greatliest are rarities. It sits most naturally before verbs and participles: greatly exceeded, greatly affected, greatly exaggerated.
- 2In a noble or magnanimous manner.
He bore his misfortunes greatly, never stooping to bitterness.
His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him; Greatly unfortunate, he fights the Cauſe Of Honour, Virtue, Liberty, and Rome.
1712, [Joseph] Addison, CatoNote
An archaic sense that praises the manner, not the amount. In Addison's Cato (1713), a hero is "greatly unfortunate": not very unfortunate, but unfortunate with nobility, bearing his ruin grandly. Read older texts with that in mind, because the phrase looks exactly like the "to a great degree" sense. Today nobly or magnanimously does this work, and greatly used this way would likely be misread.
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Origin
From Middle English gretly (also gretely, gretliche), equivalent to "great" plus the suffix "-ly".