Forming Adverbs

Most adverbs end in –ly, and adverbs that end in –ly can be formed from nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The following table shows adverbs ending in –ly formed from adjectives only.

Adjectives	Adverbs	Adjectives	Adverbs
abrupt	abruptly	lawful	lawfully
absolute	absolutely	lazy	lazily
accidental	accidentally	light	lightly
active	actively	lone	lonely
actual	actually	loud	loudly
adamant	adamantly	lucky	luckily
additional	additionally	mad	madly
affectionate	affectionately	main	mainly
angry	angrily	mannish	mannishly
annual	annually	magic	magically
anxious	anxiously	mental	mentally
apparent	apparently	merciful	mercifully
appreciative	appreciatively	mere	merely
apprehensive	apprehensively	merry	merrily
appropriate	appropriately	momentary	momentarily
approving	approvingly	monthly	monthly
approximate	approximately	narrow	narrowly
apt	aptly	natural	naturally
ardent	ardently	near	nearly
arduous	arduously	neat	neatly
arguable	arguably	nebulous	nebulously
attentive	attentively	necessary	necessarily
audible	audibly	needless	needlessly
awkward	awkwardly	nervous	nervously
bad	badly	new	newly
beautiful	beautifully	nice	nicely
bitter	bitterly	nightly	nightly
boastful	boastfully	noisy	noisily
bold	boldly	obedient	obediently
brave	bravely	occasional	occasionally
brief	briefly	open	openly
bright	brightly	oppressive	oppressively
brutal	brutally	optimistic	optimistically
busy	busily	oral	orally
calm	calmly	outward	outwardly
careful	carefully	painful	painfully
careless	carelessly	partial	partially
casual	casually	particular	particularly
cautious	cautiously	passionate	passionately
certain	certainly	patent	patently
cheap	cheaply	patient	patiently
cheerful	cheerfully	peaceful	peacefully
clean	cleanly	perfect	perfectly
clear	clearly	permanent	permanently
clever	cleverly	personal	personally
close	closely	pessimistic	pessimistically
comfortable	comfortably	physical	physically
complete	completely	pious	piously
conclusive	conclusively	playful	playfully
conscious	consciously	pleasant	pleasantly
constant	constantly	polite	politely
continual	continually	poor	poorly
continuous	continuously	popular	popularly
copious	copiously	possible	possibly
correct	correctly	posthumous	posthumously
courteous	courteously	pretty	prettily
crooked	crookedly	previous	previously
cruel	cruelly	primary	primarily
cunning	cunningly	private	privately
curious	curiously	probable	probably
dangerous	dangerously	problematic	problematically
daring	daringly	promiscuous	promiscuously
dear	dearly	proper	properly
deep	deeply	proud	proudly
definite	definitely	punctual	punctually
deliberate	deliberately	pure	purely
delightful	delightfully	puritanical	puritanically
dim	dimly	purposeless	purposelessly
dirty	dirtily	quick	quickly
double	doubly	quiet	quietly
dull	dully	rapid	rapidly
eager	eagerly	rare	rarely
easy	easily	rational	rationally
economic	economically	ready	readily
efficient	efficiently	real	really
enjoyable	enjoyably	recent	recently
enormous	enormously	regular	regularly
entire	entirely	ridiculous	ridiculously
essential	essentially	rough	roughly
eternal	eternally	rude	rudely
ethical	ethically	sad	sadly
ethnic	ethnically	safe	safely
etymological	etymologically	satisfactory	satisfactorily
euphemistic	euphemistically	savage	savagely
evasive	evasively	secret	secretly
even	evenly	seeming	seemingly
eventual	eventually	sentimental	sentimentally
evident	evidently	separate	separately
exorbitant	exorbitantly	serene	serenely
extreme	extremely	serial	serially
faithful	faithfully	serious	seriously
fastidious	fastidiously	severe	severely
fatal	fatally	shaky	shakily
fearful	fearfully	shameful	shamefully
fierce	fiercely	shameless	shamelessly
final	finally	sheepish	sheepishly
financial	financially	shy	shyly
first	firstly	significant	significantly
foolish	foolishly	silent	silently
forgetful	forgetfully	simple	simply
fortunate	fortunately	sincere	sincerely
free	freely	single-handed	single-handedly
frequent	frequently	skilful	skillfully
friendly	friendily	sleepy	sleepily
frightful	frightfully	slight	slightly
full	fully	slow	slowly
general	generally	soft	softly
generous	generously	sole	solely
gentle	gently	sound	soundly
gentleman	gentlemanly	special	specially
genuine	genuinely	steadfast	steadfastly
glad	gladly	steady	steadily
graceful	gracefully	stealthy	stealthily
gradual	gradually	strange	strangely
grim	grimly	strong	strongly
grudging	grudgingly	stupid	stupidly
gruelling	gruellingly	subtle	subtly
gruesome	gruesomely	successful	successfully
half-yearly	half-yearly	sudden	suddenly
haphazard	haphazardly	sure	surely
happy	happily	surprising	surprisingly
hard	hardly	sweet	sweetly
harsh	harshly	swift	swiftly
hasty	hastily	tactical	tactically
hateful	hatefully	tactless	tactlessly
heavy	heavily	terrible	terribly
helpful	helpfully	terrifying	terrifyingly
helpless	helplessly	terse	tersely
high	highly	thankful	thankfully
holistic	holistically	thorough	thorougly
honest	honestly	thoughtful	thoughtfully
honourable	honourably	thoughtless	thoughtlessly
hopeful	hopefully	total	totally
horrible	horribly	tremendous	tremendously
hourly	hourly	tremulous	tremulously
hungry	hungrily	TRUE	truly
hurried	hurriedly	trustful	trustfully
hypothetical	hypothetically	truthful	truthfully
hysterical	hysterically	unacceptable	unacceptably
immaculate	immaculately	unarguable	unarguably
immediate	immediately	understandable	understandably
impatient	impatiently	undoubted	undoubtedly
individual	individually	unexpected	unexpectedly
inescapable	inescapably	untruthful	untruthfully
inestimable	inestimably	unusual	unusually
inevitable	inevitably	urbane	urbanely
inexorable	inexorably	urgent	urgently
infallible	infallibly	useful	usefully
infectious	infectiously	usual	usually
instant	instantly	vast	vastly
instantaneous	instantaneously	verbal	verbally
instinctive	instinctively	veritable	veritably
jealous	jealously	weary	wearily
joint	jointly	weekly	weekly
joyful	joyfully	whole-hearted	whole-heartedly
justifiable	justifiably	wide	widely
keen	keenly	wild	wildly
kind	kindly	willing	willingly
knowing	knowingly	wise	wisely
knowledgeable	knowledgeably	wrong	wrongly
last	lastly	yearly	yearly
late	lately	youthful	youthfully