Word.ws English Dictionary

stably

stably adverb: in a stable manner.

Adverb

stably (comparative more stably, superlative most stably)

  1. In a stable manner.
    • [K]ing Edwarde [IV] returned, and wͭ much leſſe nũber thẽ [number then [than]] he had, at Barnet on theſtre daye felde [the Easter Day field], ſlewe the Erle of warwik [Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick] wͭ many other great eſtates of yͤ partie, ⁊ ſo ſtably attained the crowne againe, that he...c. 1513 (date written), Thomas More, “The History of King Richard the Thirde (Vnfinished) […]”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London...
    • The new procedures for money market operations continue to be in place until the consumer price index (excluding perishables, on a nationwide statistics) registers stably a zero percent or an increase year on year.2001, Bank of Japan, New Procedures for Money Market Operations and Monetary Easing, March 19 2001
    Antonyms:
    unstably

Noun

stably (uncountable)

  1. (historical) A medieval hunting practice in which a group of hunters and hounds are stationed around the perimeter of a wood during a hunt to prevent the escape of the game.
    • As described in chapter three, classic bow and stably hunting in the later Middle Ages and early Renaissance involved hunters waiting on foot at stands or stations for the driven quarry to appear within bowshot.2011, Richard Almond, Medieval Hunting, page 140
    • Additions to the present manuscript found in no other contemporary manuscripts include passages on blowing the "prise", an account of fox-hunting, and a section on hunting with bow and stably (in which deer are driven past ready bowmen).2011, Yale University Library, notes on: William Twiti (d. 1328), The craft of venery

Antonyms of stably

Forms of stably

comparativemore stably
superlativemost stably

Origin of stably

From stable + -ly.

From Middle English stablie, from Anglo-Norman stablie.

Words formed from stably

Questions about stably

What does stably mean?
Stably means in a stable manner.
What part of speech is stably?
Stably can be an adverb or a noun.

Words near stably in the dictionary

  1. stablishing
  2. stablishment
  3. stablishments
  4. stablisht
  5. stablize
  6. stably
  7. stabproof
  8. stabs
  9. stabs a guess
  10. stabs in the back
  11. stabs in the dark

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stably (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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