hilariously

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /hɪˈlɛriəsli/ UK /hɪˈleəriəsli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adv
in an extremely funny or amusing way

The play ended hilariously with the butler tripping over the cat.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · in an extremely funny or... amusingly comicallylaughablyuproariouslysidesplittinglyludicrously

Opposites

tediously dullyunamusinglygravely

Word family

Related forms hilarious hilarity hilariousness

Etymology

From hilarious, from Latin hilaris ('cheerful, merry'), from Ancient Greek hilaros ('cheerful, gay'), + the adverbial suffix -ly.

hilaris Latin ἱλαρός Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# hilariously

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /hɪˈlɛriəsli/
**IPA (UK):** /hɪˈleəriəsli/

## Meanings
1. in an extremely funny or amusing way

## Examples
- The play ended hilariously with the butler tripping over the cat.

## Synonyms
- amusingly
- comically
- laughably
- uproariously
- sidesplittingly
- ludicrously

## Antonyms
- tediously
- dully
- unamusingly
- gravely

## Related Forms
- hilarious
- hilarity
- hilariousness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hilaris
- Root: ἱλαρός

## Etymology
From hilarious, from Latin hilaris ('cheerful, merry'), from Ancient Greek hilaros ('cheerful, gay'), + the adverbial suffix -ly.

## AI Etymology
hilariously comes from hilarious, from Latin hilaris ('cheerful, merry'), from Ancient Greek hilaros ('cheerful, gay'), + the adverbial suffix -ly. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the adverb sense is "in an extremely funny or amusing way", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hilarious, hilarity, and hilariousness. Its semantic neighborhood includes amusingly, comically, laughably, and uproariously, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin hilaris and Ancient Greek ἱλαρός.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown