Meaning & use
successfully
Last updated
Meaning
adverbnot comparable
In a way that achieves the intended aim or result.
Grammar: No comparative; usually sits before or after the verb it modifies: successfully launched, completed successfully.
Patterns
- successfully complete something
- successfully do something
- complete something successfully
She successfully applied for a scholarship.
The team successfully launched the satellite on Tuesday.
They completed the move successfully despite the rain.
Common combinations
- successfully complete
- We successfully completed the training ahead of schedule.
- successfully launch
- The company successfully launched its new app.
- successfully treat
- The infection was successfully treated with antibiotics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- effectively
- Means producing the desired effect, but can describe method quality rather than a completed achievement.
- triumphantly
- Adds a feeling of victory or celebration that successfully does not require.
- victoriously
- Fits contests or conflicts where someone wins, not everyday tasks done well.
Opposites
Word family
- success noun
- The achievement of an aim.
- successful adjective
- Achieving a desired result.
- succeed verb
- To achieve an aim.
Commonly confused: successfully or successive?
successfully vs successive
Successive means following one after another; successfully means with success.
Practice
The engineers ___ solved the overheating problem before the deadline.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs an adverb modifying solved. Successful is an adjective, success is a noun, and succeeding does not mean “with success” here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “successfully”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.