squarely

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈskwɛrli/ UK /ˈskwɛəli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adv
directly and exactly; in a straightforward manner

The blame fell squarely on the project manager.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · directly and exactly; in a... directly straight exactly firmly plainlyforthrightly

Opposites

indirectly obliquely evasively

Word family

Related forms square

Etymology

From square + -ly; square comes from Old French esquarre, from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadra ('a square'), from quattuor ('four').

esquarre Old French quadra Latin quattuor Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# squarely

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

## Meanings
1. directly and exactly; in a straightforward manner

## Examples
- The blame fell squarely on the project manager.

## Synonyms
- directly
- straight
- exactly
- firmly
- plainly
- forthrightly

## Antonyms
- indirectly
- obliquely
- evasively

## Related Forms
- square

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: esquarre
- Root: quadra
- Root: quattuor

## Etymology
From square + -ly; square comes from Old French esquarre, from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadra ('a square'), from quattuor ('four').

## AI Etymology
Squarely comes from square + -ly; square comes from Old French esquarre, from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadra ('a square'), from quattuor ('four'). The historical chain includes Old French esquarre, Latin quadra, and Latin quattuor. The quoted older senses, "a square" and "four", supply the semantic anchors for squarely. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word squarely carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adv, "directly and exactly; in a straightforward manner". Related English forms include square. The result is a adv whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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