certainly

English

Etymology

From Middle English certeynly; equivalent to certain +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːtn̩li/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝtn̩li/, [ˈsɝʔn̩li]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

certainly (comparative more certainly or (rare, obsolete) certainlier, superlative most certainly or (rare, obsolete) certainliest)

1. In a way which is certain; with certainty.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , I.iii.2.2:

     he verily thought he had young live frogs in his belly, qui vivebant ex alimento suo, that lived by his nourishment, and was so certainly persuaded of it, that for many years following he could not be rectified in his conceit.

   • 1923, A. A. Hill, Automobile Dealer and Repairer, page 30:

     The torque was "built up" in the special back axle and the car crawled tankwise but very certainly over the obstacles without a jar or hesitation.

2. Without doubt, surely.

   The accident was certainly caused by human error.

   That was certainly sweet of him.

   You may certainly join us for dinner.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:

     WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.

3. An emphatic affirmative answer; of course.

   Would you like it with ice?  Certainly, and with lemon please.

Synonyms

• (with certainty): absolutely, beyond doubt, indubitably, sure thing, undoubtedly, wis (obsolete), without a doubt
• (without doubt): definitely, doubtlessly, in fact, indeed, indisputably, indubitably, no doubt, really, sure, surely, truly, undoubtedly, unquestionably, wis (obsolete), without a doubt
• (emphatic affirmative): damn right, damn straight, fo shizzle, for sure, oh yeah, wye aye (dialect)

Coordinate terms

• maybe, possibly, arguably, questionably, probably, perhaps

Derived terms

• soitenly

Translations

with certainty

• Arabic: بِالتَّأْكِيد (bi-t-taʔkīd)
• Bulgarian: си́гурно (bg) (sígurno)
• Catalan: certament (ca)
• Esperanto: certe (eo)
• Finnish: varmasti (fi)
• French: certainement (fr)
• Galician: certamente
• Greek: βεβαίως (el) (vevaíos)

  Ancient: οὖν (oûn)

• Hebrew: בוודאות (bevada'út)
• Hungarian: biztosan (hu), bizonyosan (hu), határozottan (hu)
• Italian: certamente (it)
• Latin: quippe
• Middle English: certeynly
• Norman: cèrtainement (Jersey)
• Portuguese: certamente (pt), garantidamente
• Spanish: ciertamente (es)
• Tibetan: ངེས་པར (nges par)
• Turkish: kesinlikle (tr)

without doubt, surely

• Arabic: بِالتَّأْكِيد (bi-t-taʔkīd), بِدُون شَكّ (bidūn šakk), بِدُون نِقَاش (bidūn niqāš)

  Egyptian Arabic: أكيد (ʔakīd)

• Armenian: անկասկած (hy) (ankaskac)
• Bashkir: әлбиттә (əlbittə)
• Belarusian: безумо́ўна (bjezumóŭna), кане́чна (kanjéčna), вядо́ма (vjadóma), бяссумне́нна (bjassumnjénna), напэ́ўна (napéŭna)
• Bulgarian: безспо́рно (bg) (bezspórno), несъмне́но (bg) (nesǎmnéno), си́гурно (bg) (sígurno)
• Burmese: တကယ် (my) (ta.kai)
• Catalan: certament (ca), sens dubte, sense cap mena de dubte
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 當然／当然 (zh) (dāngrán), 一定 (zh) (yīdìng)

• Czech: určitě (cs), nepochybně (cs), jistě (cs), samozřejmě (cs)
• Dutch: beslist (nl), voorzeker (nl), zeker (nl), waarlijk (nl)
• Esperanto: certe (eo), sendube (eo)
• Finnish: todellakin (fi), varmasti (fi), epäilemättä (fi)
• French: certainement (fr), sûrement (fr), sans nul doute (fr), sans aucun doute (fr)
• Galician: abofé (gl), sen dúbida
• German: sicherlich (de), zweifellos (de), gewiss (de), freilich (de)

  Alemannic German: gwüss

• Greek: βεβαίως (el) (vevaíos), σίγουρα (el) (sígoura), ασφαλώς (el) (asfalós)

  Ancient: οὖν (oûn)

• Hebrew: בוודאות (bevada'út), בוודאי
• Hindi: अवश्य (hi) (avaśya)
• Hungarian: mindenképpen (hu), feltétlenül (hu), kétségkívül (hu), kétségtelenül (hu), tényleg (hu)
• Ido: certe (io)
• Interlingua: certo
• Italian: certamente (it), senza dubbio, non ci piove
• Japanese: 確かに (ja) (tashika ni), 必ず (ja) (kanarazu), 絶対に (ja) (zettai ni), 確実に (ja) (kakujitsu ni)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 확실히 (ko) (hwaksilhi)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئەکید (ekîd)

• Latin: certō
• Macedonian: сигурно (sigurno)
• Maori: āe rā
• Middle English: certeynly
• Norman: cèrtainement (Jersey)
• Panamint: nu'u
• Persian: بطور محرز
• Plautdietsch: zwoasch
• Polish: z pewnością (pl), pewnie (pl)
• Portuguese: certamente (pt), sem dúvida (pt)
• Romanian: bineînțeles (ro), desigur (ro)
• Russian: коне́чно (ru) (konéčno), несомне́нно (ru) (nesomnénno), непреме́нно (ru) (nepreménno), безусло́вно (ru) (bezuslóvno), наверняка́ (ru) (navernjaká), бесспо́рно (ru) (besspórno)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: zacijelo (sh), sigurno (sh), doista (sh), sigurno (sh)

• Slovak: určite, samozrejme, iste, isto
• Spanish: ciertamente (es), sin duda (es), a todas luces
• Swahili: maalum (sw)
• Swedish: säkerligen (sv), utan tvekan (sv)
• Telugu: తప్పక (te) (tappaka)
• Tibetan: ངེས་པར་དུ (nges par du), ཡིན་གཅིག་མིན་གཅིག (yin gcig min gcig), རྩོད་པ་མེད་པར (rtsod pa med par), གདོན་མི་འཚལ་བར (gdon mi 'tshal bar), གོར་མ་ཆག་པར (gor ma chag par)
• Tocharian B: nemcek, ṣñikek
• Turkish: kesinlikle (tr)
• Ukrainian: авже́ж (uk) (avžéž), безсумні́вно (uk) (bezsumnívno), неодмі́нно (neodmínno), звича́йно (zvyčájno), безумо́вно (uk) (bezumóvno), напе́вно (napévno)
• Urdu: اوشیے (avaśye)
• Vietnamese: chắc chắn (vi)
• Yiddish: אַוודאי (avade)

emphatic affirmative answer

• Arabic: بِالتَّأْكِيد (bi-t-taʔkīd), بِدُون شَكّ (bidūn šakk), بِدُون نِقَاش (bidūn niqāš)
• Armenian: իհարկե (hy) (iharke), անշուշտ (hy) (anšušt)
• Bulgarian: разби́ра се (razbíra se)
• Catalan: certament (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 當然／当然 (zh) (dāngrán)

• Czech: určitě (cs), nepochybně (cs), jistě (cs), zajisté (cs)
• Dutch: beslist (nl), voorzeker (nl), zeker (nl), en of
• Esperanto: jes ja, certe (eo), kompreneble
• Finnish: totta kai (fi), ilman muuta (fi), kyllä kiitos
• French: certainement (fr), bien sûr (fr), pour sûr (fr), évidemment (fr)
• Galician: abofé (gl)
• German: sicher (de), natürlich (de)
• Greek: βεβαίως (el) (vevaíos), ασφαλώς (el) (asfalós)
• Hebrew: בוודאי (be'vadai), כַּמּוּבָן
• Hungarian: hogyne (hu), természetesen (hu), feltétlenül (hu), szívesen (hu)
• Italian: certamente (it), evidentemente (it)
• Japanese: その通り (sono tōri), 全く (ja) (mattaku), 必ず (ja) (kanarazu), もちろん (ja) (mochiron)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئەکید (ekîd)

• Latin: certē
• Maori: āpāia, apa ia, anaoa
• Middle English: certeynly
• Norman: pour saeure (Guernsey), ^{(please verify)} cèrtainement (Jersey)
• Polish: na pewno (pl), zdecydowanie (pl)
• Portuguese: certamente (pt), sem dúvida (pt)
• Russian: коне́чно (ru) (konéčno), несомне́нно (ru) (nesomnénno), непреме́нно (ru) (nepreménno), безусло́вно (ru) (bezuslóvno)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: свакако, дакако, наравно, несумњиво

  Roman: svakako (sh), dakako (sh), naravno (sh), nesumnjivo (sh)

• Spanish: por supuesto (es)
• Swedish: naturligtvis (sv), självklart (sv), utan tvekan (sv), självfallet (sv)
• Tibetan: ཡིན་དང་ཡིན (yin dang yin), ཡོད་དང་ཡོད (yod dang yod), ངེས་སོ (nges so)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} నిశ్చయంగా (niścayaṅgā)

References

• “certainly”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “certainly”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.