really Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adverb in accordance with truth or fact or reality
    genuinely; truly.
    • she was now truly American
    • a genuinely open society
    • they don't really listen to us
  2. adverb in actual fact
    actually.
    • to be nominally but not actually independent
    • no one actually saw the shark
    • large meteorites actually come from the asteroid belt
  3. adverb in fact (used as intensifiers or sentence modifiers)
    truly; in truth.
    • in truth, moral decay hastened the decline of the Roman Empire
    • really, you shouldn't have done it
    • a truly awful book
  4. adverb used as intensifiers; `real' is sometimes used informally for `really'; `rattling' is informal
    very; real; rattling.
    • she was very gifted
    • he played very well
    • a really enjoyable evening
    • I'm real sorry about it
    • a rattling good yarn

WordNet


Re"al*ly` adverb
Definitions
  1. Royally. Obs. Chaucer.
Re"al*ly adverb
Definitions
  1. In a real manner; with or in reality; actually; in truth.
    Whose anger is really but a short fit of madness. Swift.
    Really is often used familiarly as a slight corroboration of an opinion or a declaration.
    Why, really, sixty-five is somewhat old. Young.

Webster 1913