ideally

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English ideal

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der.

Proto-Germanic *līkąder.

Proto-Germanic *-līkaz

Proto-Germanic *-ê

Proto-Germanic *-līkê

Proto-West Germanic *-līkē

Old English -līċe

Middle English -ly

English -ly

English ideally

From ideal + -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɪə.li/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /aɪˈdi.ə.li/

Adverb

ideally (comparative more ideally, superlative most ideally)

1. In an ideal way; perfectly. [from 18th c.]
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 46:

     The summit of Mauna Kea is considered the ideal place to mount an astronomical observatory, for above the clouds there is only the stars and the skies are ideally transparent.

2. Given ideal circumstances; preferably. [from 19th c.]

   Synonym: in an ideal world

   Ideally, we would have one textbook per student, but unfortunately some of you will have to share.

Antonyms

• nonideally

Translations

preferably

• Catalan: idealment (ca)
• Czech: ideálně
• Finnish: ihanteellisesti (fi)
• French: idéalement (fr)
• German: idealerweise (de)
• Italian: idealmente (it), preferibilmente (it)
• Polish: doskonale (pl), idealnie (pl)
• Romanian: ideal (ro), în mod ideal
• Serbo-Croatian: idealno (sh), идеално
• Spanish: idealmente (es)