Meanings
comparative fiercelier · comparative more fiercely · superlative fierceliest · superlative most fiercely
- In a fierce manner.
The wind blew fiercely and the rain fell heavily.
3 more examples
They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLCHe helped himself to a cigar and leaned back with a fiercely critical pair of eyes, taking note of the effect which this document would produce.
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLCRussia said at the weekend that its forces had recaptured Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year, though Kyiv insists its troops are fiercely battling to preserve their foothold in the territory.
2025 April 28, Helen Regan, Michael Rios, Darya Tarasova, Tim Lister, “Putin thanks North Korea for help in Kursk, as Germany criticizes US plan for Ukrainian concessions”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2025 - Extremely; to a large degree.
fiercely loyal
5 more examples
fiercely competitive
a fiercely loved woman
a fiercely proud father
fiercely disappointed
fiercely independent
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbin a physically fierce manner
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishfersly
- Englishfiercely
From Middle English fersly; equivalent to fierce + -ly.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan feroçment
- feroçmentin a fierce manner
Finnish raivokkaasti, hurjasti
- raivokkaastiin a fierce manner
- hurjastiin a fierce manner
- tulisestiin a fierce manner
- rajustiin a fierce manner
French âprement, farouchement
- âprementin a fierce manner
- farouchementin a fierce manner
German heftig, wütend
- heftigin a fierce manner
- wütendin a fierce manner
Greek αγρίως, άγρια
- αγρίως (agríos)in a fierce manner
- άγρια (ágria)in a fierce manner
Hungarian vadul
- vadulin a fierce manner
Italian trucemente, perfidamente
- trucementein a fierce manner
- perfidamentein a fierce manner
- ferocementein a fierce manner
- accanitamentein a fierce manner
- tenacementein a fierce manner
Latin ferociter, atrociter
- ferociterin a fierce manner
- atrociterin a fierce manner
Polish zawzięcie, ostro
- zawzięciein a fierce manner
- ostroin a fierce manner
- gwałtowniein a fierce manner
Portuguese ferozmente
- ferozmentein a fierce manner
Russian свире́по, лю́то
- свире́по (svirépo)in a fierce manner
- лю́то (ljúto)in a fierce manner
- жесто́ко (žestóko)in a fierce manner
- я́ростно (járostno)in a fierce manner
- неи́стово (neístovo)in a fierce manner
Spanish fieramente
- fieramentein a fierce manner
Ukrainian лю́то
- лю́то (ljúto)in a fierce manner
Cite this entry
fiercely. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fiercely
“fiercely.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fiercely. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fiercely,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fiercely.
Source: fiercely on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.