Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "rightly" []

  • In a correct manner; properly: act rightly. (adverb)
  • With honesty; justly. (adverb)
  • Informal Really: I don't rightly know. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "rightly" in a sentence
  • "There he was a minute or two since, seated by that cannon, apparently an attentive and much edified auditor of a discussion we were holding on the celebrated theory of a certain bishop of your own country; which theory, rightly considered -- mind, I say _rightly considered_ -- neighbor"
  • "It hath been therefore a great felicity to these kingdoms, that the heirs to titles and large estates, have a weakness in their eyes, a tenderness in their constitutions, are not able to bear the pain and indignity of whipping; and as the mother rightly expresses it, could never take to their book; yet are well enough qualified to sign a receipt for half a year's rent, to put their names (_rightly spelt_) to"
  • "The Great Depression of the 1930s -- the last time the term rightly applied -- was industrial capitalism's worst calamity."