1
: to a great degree : severely
2
: slowly and laboriously : dully
3
archaic
: with sorrow : grievously
4
: in a heavy manner
Synonyms
- achingly
- almighty
- archly
- awful
- awfully
- badly
- beastly
- blisteringly
- bone
- colossally
- corking
- cracking
- damn
- damned
- dang
- deadly
- desperately
- eminently
- enormously
- especially
- ever
- exceedingly
- exceeding
- extra
- extremely
- fabulously
- fantastically
- far
- fiercely
- filthy
- frightfully
- full
- greatly
- highly
- hugely
- immensely
- incredibly
- intensely
- jolly
- majorly
- mightily
- mighty
- monstrous [chiefly dialect]
- mortally
- most
- much
- particularly
- passing
- rattling
- real
- really
- right
- roaring
- roaringly
- seriously
- severely
- so
- sore
- sorely
- spanking
- specially
- stinking
- such
- super
- supremely
- surpassingly
- terribly
- that
- thumping
- too
- unco
- uncommonly
- vastly
- very
- vitally
- way
- whacking
- wicked
- wildly
Examples of heavily in a Sentence
He relies heavily on his wife for advice.
These artists borrow heavily from Picasso.
Our flowers were heavily damaged by a late spring frost.
She drank and smoked heavily for years.
He sat down heavily on the couch.
He was leaning heavily on the table.
She sighed heavily then said “Okay, I'll do it.”
Recent Examples on the Web
Relying Too Much On Credit Cards Credit cards can be useful financial tools, but relying on them too heavily is a dangerous habit.
—
True Tamplin, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
The coastal communities along this route also rely heavily on tourism to hold up their local economy.
—Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 23 Oct. 2024
As incumbent Richard Nixon's margin of victory grew wider over Democratic challenger George McGovern, Lennon began to drink more heavily, and eventually ended up in bed with another party guest.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 23 Oct. 2024
Standing among the players — and in clear view of the Fox Sports cameras — was a shirtless, heavily tattooed clown, holding a champagne bottle in each hand.
—Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heavily 
True Tamplin, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
The coastal communities along this route also rely heavily on tourism to hold up their local economy.
—Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 23 Oct. 2024
As incumbent Richard Nixon's margin of victory grew wider over Democratic challenger George McGovern, Lennon began to drink more heavily, and eventually ended up in bed with another party guest.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 23 Oct. 2024
Standing among the players — and in clear view of the Fox Sports cameras — was a shirtless, heavily tattooed clown, holding a champagne bottle in each hand.
—Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heavily
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heavily.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near heavily
Cite this Entry
“Heavily.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heavily. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
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