strictly

adverb

Definition of strictlynext
as in carefully
without any relaxation of standards or precision strictly speaking, Columbus did not discover America—the people living there had long known about it the rules must be strictly obeyed

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of strictly Is this chatty attitude appropriate for a strictly business call? — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 25 Aug. 2026 Just for the same exact reason why details should not be strictly decorative. — Chris Willman, Variety, 25 Aug. 2026 Cirque Dreams, which also offers several other touring shows, used to be regularly confused with Cirque du Soleil strictly because of the similarity of their names. — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 25 Aug. 2026 The college’s advanced mechatronics engineering program isn’t strictly tailored to Micron; the skills are in demand in a lot of modern manufacturing, Jones said. — Mark Dee, Idaho Statesman, 25 Aug. 2026 TikTok did not comment but said its policies strictly prohibit content that could cause significant physical harm. — ABC News, 24 Aug. 2026 When they were first introduced in 1964, however, they were strictly seen as an athletic shoe capable of taking runners far. — Amina Ayoud, Footwear News, 22 Aug. 2026 The changes announced by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in June aim to significantly shift Cuba’s economy and industry, which have been strictly controlled by the socialist government since the 1959 revolution. — Edith M. Lederer, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2026 The Platonic ideal of transcendent forms that exist in eternity is another block to progress, because, strictly speaking, there is no open future and no such thing as invention. — Literary Hub, 20 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for strictly
  1. carefully
  2. rigidly
  3. precisely
  4. rigorously
Adverb
  • Dry food can also work, but portions should be weighed carefully rather than left out for unlimited grazing.
    — Lauren Paige Richeson, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Each flower must be picked and carefully dissected to remove three tiny red threads, known as stigmas.
    — Callie Zanandrie, CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of carefully
Adverb
  • Starting in the nineteen-eighties, forms of identification as proof of citizenship became more rigidly required.
    — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The acting is passable, more or less, but dialogue is often rigidly expository or cliché or both.
    — Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of rigidly
Adverb
  • Yet, water and electricity are precisely the two critical resources that the AI and semiconductor industries rely on heavily.
    — , CNBC, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Rather than simply reducing opponents’ health, players seek to break opponents’ posture by precisely deflecting and countering attacks.
    — Aman Kumar, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of precisely
Adverb
  • Thanks to the rigorously retro-cheap aesthetics of the film’s crack design team (production designer Anna Kathleen, costume designer Shawna-Nova Foley and puppet creator Devon Hawkes Ludlow), your memories of being tube-babysat will be triggered.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The vaccine has been administered in a single dose for more than 40 years and has been rigorously studied.
    — Sara Dorn, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of rigorously

Browse Nearby Words

strict
strictly
strictness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Strictly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/strictly. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All