Word.ws English Dictionary

mightly

/ˈmaɪt li/

mightly adjective: mighty; competent; capable; strong; powerful.

Adjective

mightly (comparative more mightly, superlative most mightly)

  1. Mighty; competent; capable; strong; powerful.
    • King Haco would have ſtay'd, notwithstanding the mightly Power he had to encounter, […]1711, Patrick Abercromby, The Martial Atchievements of the Scots Nation
    • […] and the mightly arm of Alcher ſent him like a lion howling among the members of the dead.1770, The Lady's Magazine, page 273
  2. Substantial; weighty; of import.
    • In touching upon these mightly results, which must attend, or soon follow, the completion of Welland Canal, [...]1828, Welland Canal Company, The Welland Canal Company
    • Mightly indeed must be the Titanic current of that soul which could receive one whole human, full of thoughts, affections, and emotions, into its tide and yet remain uncoloured and unchanged.1983, Elizabeth K. Helsinger, THE WOMAN QUESTION Social Issues, 1837-1883
  3. Able; able to occur; possible.

Adverb

mightly (comparative more mightly, superlative most mightly)

  1. Mightily.
  2. Very.
    • "[...] Must have been mightly well corked." "With every possible care, probably. [...]"1904, John Ames Mitchell, The villa Claudia
    • We need the best material possible, and I believe we have some mightly good material at the present time.1922, American Hospital Association, Transactions

Examples of mightly in a sentence

  • Antilochus joined his grief to their tears: he held the mightly hand of Achilles; for deep he groaned from his inmoſt ſoul.1793, William Russell, The History of Ancient Europe:
  • Month after month law-suits, instigated by the grasping white man against the helpless Indian are decided in favor of the mightly and unscrupulous white.1902, The Capital, volumes 15-17, page 2:

Forms of mightly

Adjective
comparativemore mightly
superlativemost mightly
Adverb
comparativemore mightly
superlativemost mightly

Origin of mightly

From Middle English mightli, myȝtly, from Old English mihtelīċ (“possible, able, capable”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahtilīk, from Proto-Germanic *mahtilīkaz, *mahtulīkaz, equivalent to might + -ly. Cognate with Swedish maktlig (“powerful”).

From Middle English myghtely, myȝtly, from Old English mihtlīċe, equivalent to might + -ly.

Questions about mightly

What does mightly mean?
Mightly means mighty; competent; capable; strong; powerful.
How do you use mightly in a sentence?
Antilochus joined his grief to their tears: he held the mightly hand of Achilles; for deep he groaned from his inmoſt ſoul.
What part of speech is mightly?
Mightly can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce mightly?
Mightly is pronounced /ˈmaɪt li/.

Words near mightly in the dictionary

  1. mightily
  2. mightiness
  3. mightinesses
  4. mightless
  5. mightlessness
  6. mightly
  7. mightn't
  8. mightn't've
  9. mightna
  10. mightnae
  11. mights

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mightly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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