especially

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
English especial
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 especially

    From especial + -ly.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ɪˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/, /əˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/, /ɛsˈpɛʃ.(ə.)li/
      • Audio (US):(file)
    • (nonstandard, proscribed) IPA(key): /ɪkˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/, /ɛkˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/

    Adverb

    especially (comparative more especially, superlative most especially)

    1. (manner) In a special manner; specially.
      He got up early especially.
      • 1944 July and August, Railway Magazine, page 233, photo caption:
        L.N.E.R. class "Y6" 3 ft. 1 in. 0-4-0 steam tram locomotive No. 7133
        This locomotive, constructed at the Stratford works of the former Great Eastern Railway in 1897, was one of six which were built between 1883 and 1897 especially to work the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.
    2. (focus) Particularly; to a greater extent than is normal.
    3. Exceptionally.
      The buildings are not especially large.
      • 1960 May, K. A. Murray, “Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire”, in Railway Magazine, page 305:
        In 1883, the contract came up for renewal, the L.N.W.R. received it, and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was set aside. But there was a certain miasma of secrecy about the affair, so that many, especially in Ireland, looked for information and insisted on getting it.
      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:
        There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.
      • 2023 April 11, Kurtis Lee, “California Economy Is on Edge After Tech Layoffs and Studio Cutbacks”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 April 2023:
        At tech companies that spent recent years expanding paid parental leave, parents have felt the whiplash of mass layoffs in an especially visceral way.
    4. (focus) Used to place greater emphasis upon someone or something.
      Invite them all, especially Molly.
      • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
        Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:
        There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.

    Synonyms

    Translations

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    See also

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