Meanings
- archaicnot comparableTruly; doubtless; honestly; in truth.
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 13:212 more examples
He would weep for hours together, and I verily believe that to the very end this spoilt child of life thought his weak tears in some way efficacious.
1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 218Are there three or four pleasing poems and are all the rest put in to fill up the book? Nay. verily! The poems in this collection are those that children love.
1904, Mary Elizabeth Burt, Poems That Every Child Should Know, PrefaceSynonyms: soothly
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbTruly; doubtless; honestly; in truth.
adverbConfidently, certainly.
Origin
- Middle Englishverraily
- Englishverily
From Middle English verraily, from verray (“true, very”) + -ly. More at very, -ly.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀληθῶς
- ἀληθῶς (alēthôs)truly, doubtlessly
Bulgarian наистина
- наистина (naistina)truly, doubtlessly
Danish sandelig
- sandeligtruly, doubtlessly
Esperanto vere, certe
- veretruly, doubtlessly
- certeconfidently, certainly
Finnish varmasti, varmasti
- varmastitruly, doubtlessly
- varmasticonfidently, certainly
French vraiment, véritablement
- vraimenttruly, doubtlessly
- véritablementtruly, doubtlessly
- sans aucun doutetruly, doubtlessly
- absolumenttruly, doubtlessly
- indubitablementtruly, doubtlessly
- sans le moindre doutetruly, doubtlessly
- en véritétruly, doubtlessly
- certainementconfidently, certainly
- assurémentconfidently, certainly
German wahrlich, gewiss
- wahrlichtruly, doubtlessly
- gewissconfidently, certainly
- natürlichconfidently, certainly
- sicherconfidently, certainly
Greek αληθώς, βεβαίως
- αληθώς (alithós)truly, doubtlessly
- βεβαίως (vevaíos)confidently, certainly
Hebrew אמן
- אמן (amén)truly, doubtlessly
Italian veramente, davvero
- veramentetruly, doubtlessly
- davverotruly, doubtlessly
- certamenteconfidently, certainly
Latin vērē
- vērētruly, doubtlessly
Norwegian Bokmål sannelig, sikkert
- sanneligtruly, doubtlessly
- sikkertconfidently, certainly
- visseligconfidently, certainly
Persian همانا, هراینه
- همانا (hamânâ)truly, doubtlessly
- هراینه (har-âyene)truly, doubtlessly
- بهراستی (be-râsti)truly, doubtlessly
- حقیقتاً (haqiqatan)truly, doubtlessly
Polish zaprawdę, zaiste
- zaprawdętruly, doubtlessly
- zaistetruly, doubtlessly
- doprawdytruly, doubtlessly
Portuguese verdadeiramente, deveras
- verdadeiramentetruly, doubtlessly
- deverastruly, doubtlessly
Russian и́стинно, уве́ренно
- и́стинно (ístinno)truly, doubtlessly
- уве́ренно (uvérenno)confidently, certainly
Spanish verdaderamente, de verdad
- verdaderamentetruly, doubtlessly
- de verdadtruly, doubtlessly
- de verastruly, doubtlessly
- realmentetruly, doubtlessly
- sin duda algunatruly, doubtlessly
- ciertamenteconfidently, certainly
- por supuestoconfidently, certainly
Swahili kweli
- kwelitruly, doubtlessly
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
verily. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verily
“verily.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verily. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “verily,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verily.
Source: verily on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.