mightily meaning (literary): definition, etymology and quotations

mightily

adv

UK /ˈmaɪtɪli/ · US /ˈmaɪtɪli/

Etymology From Middle English mightili (“with might, powerfully, strongly; forcefully, violently; greatly; etc.”), from Old English meahtiglice (“with might, powerfully, mightily”), from meahtiġ, mihtiġ (“powerful, mighty”) + -līċe (suffix forming adverbs). Mihtiġ is derived from Proto-Germanic *mahtīgaz (“mighty”), from *mahtiz (“force, strength; ability, power”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”)) + *-gaz (suffix with the sense ‘being; doing; having’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, mighty + -ly (suffix forming adverbs).

› In a mighty manner.

Literary With much physical force, power, or strength; also, with divine or superhuman power or strength.

The chivalrous knights entered the lists and fought mightily.
So cry Hand & Hyle the eldest of the fathers of Albions / Little-ones; to destroy the Divine Saviour: the Friend of Sinners. / Building Castles in desolated places, and strong Fortifications. / Soon Hand mightily devour'd & absorb'd Albions Twelve Sons.1804–1820 (date written), William Blake, “Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion”, in Edwin John Ellis and William Butler Yeats, editors, The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical […], volume III, London: Bernard Quaritch, […], published 17 January 1893, →OCLC, page 18, lines 36–39:

4 more examples

[A] spirit as of prophecy had come upon him, constraining him to its purpose as mightily as the old prophets of Israel were constrained; […]1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 303:
And Bagdemagus's son Meliganus brake a spear upon Sir Gareth mightily and knightly.1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Tournament”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC, page 111:
But they were silent in amazement and expectation when they saw the mighty white ape wriggle upon the back of their king, and with steel muscles tensed beneath the armpits of his antagonist, bear down mightily with his open palms upon the back of the thick bull-neck, so that the king ape could but shriek in agony and flounder helplessly about upon the thick mat of jungle grass.1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Beasts at Bay”, in The Beasts of Tarzan, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published March 1916, →OCLC, page 34:
'The Lord is working mightily,' puffed Pastor Finch, smacking the bongos with his palms. 'Praise the Lord.'1985, Jeanette Winterson, “Numbers”, in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, published September 1987, →ISBN, page 85:

With much emotional, intellectual, or mental force or power; vehemently.

Sir, I ſhal not be ſlacke, in ſigne vvhereof / Pleaſe ye vve may contriue this afternoone, / And quaffe carovvſes to our Miſtreſſe health, / And do as aduerſaries do in lavv, / Striue mightily, but eate and drinke as friends.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 214, column 2:
But let man and beaſt be couered with ſackecloth, and cry mightily vnto God: yea, let them turne euery one from his euill way, and from the violence that is in their hands.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jonah 3:8, signature Gggg, recto, column 2:

2 more examples

I wonder mightily now what sort of a creature I should have turned out, if at this time Love had been with me instead of against me; […]1886, John Ruskin, “Roslyn Chapel”, in Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume I, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, pages 421–422:
The Supreme Court tried mightily to come together. […] But in the end came a familiar conservative–liberal split on the last, and perhaps most-watched case of the term ending this week.2014 July 1, Bill Mears, “Supreme Court: Old Habits Die Hard”, in CNN, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2025:

Of a characteristic: provided or present to a powerful or strong extent.

Before an adjective or participial adjective

[A]lthough he vvas a man mightely friended, yet vvas he by a publike decree baniſhed into one of the Abſyrtides, iſlan ds vpon the coaſt of Libvrnia.1603, Richard Knolles, “The Life of Baiazet, Second of that Name, and Second Emperour of the Turkes”, in The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 459:
Time, O mighty and mightily peopled city, / Time is busy with thee.1898, Laurence Binyon, “[London Visions.] Songs of the World Unborn.”, in Porphyrion and Other Poems, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC, book, page 80:

Informal To a great extent; extremely, greatly.

He sounded mightily proud of himself.
Therein thou vvrong'ſt thy Children mightily.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 159, column 2:

4 more examples

I [Aye], truely, ſir, I am mightily giuen to melancholy.1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 31:
[I]t is prooued my Lady Hero hath bin falſely accuſde, the Prince [Don Pedro] and Claudio mightily abuſde, and Don Iohn is the author of all, vvho is fled and gone: […]1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], signature I2, recto:
[…] I to the Duke of York's playhouse; […] I sat mightily behind, and could see but little, and hear not all.1668 February 15 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 6th, 1667–1668”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume VII, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1896, →OCLC, page 307:
[T]his artificial Ignorance, and learned Gibberiſh, prevailed mightily in theſe laſt Ages, by the Intereſt and Artifice of thoſe, vvho found no eaſier vvay to that pitch of Authority and Dominion they have attained, than by amuſing the Men of Buſineſs, and Ignorant, vvith hard VVords, or employing the Ingenious and Idle in intricate Diſputes, about unintelligible Terms, and holding them perpetually entangled in that endleſs Labyrinth.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of the Abuse of Words”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book III, § 9, page 243:

Obsolete Put in place through the use of force or power.

[T]his group of the lion and the man [a sculpture] now bear an unfinished, unwrought appearance, but you cannot look at it a moment, and not instantly avow the majesty and grandeur of the idea that once lay there so mightily embodied.1863 June, “Rough Notes of a Ride to Babylon”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XCIII, number DLXXII, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 679, column 1:
O, mightily seated and / Throned are our masters, / And steadily rooted; […]1866, Lord de Tabley [i.e., John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley], “Philoctetes: A Metrical Drama”, in The Collected Poems of Lord de Tabley, London: Chapman & Hall, published 1903, →OCLC, page 166:

Related terms: might, mightly