finally

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   At the end or conclusion; ultimately.

   The contest was long, but the Romans finally conquered.

2. 2
   adv

   At bottom; ultimately; when all is considered.

   In a world in which "like singing,/ the next day's shriek for ease rises," in a world whose "survivors" are "capable of any cry, never done/ clasping in the city's shaken places," it is perhaps not surprising to find a dehumanizing but finally protective system of alienation imposing itself.

3. 3
   adv

   To finish (with); lastly (in the present).

   Finally, I washed my dog.

4. 4
   adv

   Definitively, comprehensively.

   The question of his long-term success has now been finally settled.

5. 5
   adv

   as the end result of a succession or process

6. 6
   adv

   after an unspecified period of time or an especially long delay

7. 7
   adv

   the item at the end

Etymology

From Middle English finally, fynaly, fynally, fynaliche, fynalliche, equivalent to final + -ly.