mercifully

adverb

mer·​ci·​ful·​ly ˈmər-si-f(ə-)lē How to pronounce mercifully (audio)
Synonyms of mercifullynext
1
: in a merciful manner
2
: fortunately sense 2
mercifully we didn't have to attend the meeting

Examples of mercifully in a Sentence

His crimes have been dealt with mercifully. Mercifully, the professor always makes our tests easy.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
As they’ve mercifully been decreased from six to four to three over the last 50 years, so have the prime directives. — Kansas City Star, 25 Aug. 2026 Netflix has released the final season of Outer Banks, with season 5 mercifully not split in half and stretched over two months. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026 Wilson showed, with rigorous calculations, why the smaller scales bleed through to our level in mercifully few ways. — Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 17 Aug. 2026 With a few wonderful exceptions that proved the rule (The Good Place, New Girl), the network sitcom landscape of the 2010s was a graveyard of glib titles, gimmicky premises, and mercifully short runs. — Judy Berman, Time, 11 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for mercifully

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of mercifully was in the 14th century

Rhymes for mercifully

See All Rhymes for mercifully

Browse Nearby Words

merciful
mercifully
mercifulness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mercifully.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mercifully. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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