finally

English

Etymology

From Middle English finally, fynaly, fynally, fynaliche, fynalliche, equivalent to final +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈfaɪ.nə.li/, /ˈfaɪn.li/
    • Audio (UK):(file)
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Australia) IPA(key): /ˈfɑɪ.nə.li/, /ˈfɑɪn.li/
  • Homophone: finely (some US dialects)
  • Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -aɪnəli

Adverb

finally (not comparable)

  1. At the end or conclusion; ultimately.
    Synonyms: eventually, in the end; see also Thesaurus:finally
    Antonym: initially
    The contest was long, but the Romans finally conquered.
  2. At bottom; ultimately; when all is considered.
    • 1975 December 20, Rudy Kikel, “The Closed Closet Policy and the Poetry of Paul Monette”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 25, page 9:
      In a world in which "like singing,/ the next day's shriek for ease rises," in a world whose "survivors" are "capable of any cry, never done/ clasping in the city's shaken places," it is perhaps not surprising to find a dehumanizing but finally protective system of alienation imposing itself.
    • 2024, Egbert Schuurman, Ruben Alvarado, Technology and Christianity: Essays on the Interface, page 113:
      Cyberneticism is, finally, a refined form of scientism, and therefore it is also more dangerous. This form of scientism is not based on linear causality, as mechanistic thought is; rather, it is based on circular causality.
  3. (sequence) To finish (with); lastly (in the present).
    Synonyms: at last, at length, endly; see also Thesaurus:lastly
    Finally, I washed my dog.
    Finally, I'd like to thanks all the people who helped to make it this far.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
    • 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122:
      At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:finally.
  4. (manner) Definitively, comprehensively.
    Synonyms: completely, thoroughly, totally; see also Thesaurus:completely
    The question of his long-term success has now been finally settled.
    The venue won't be finally decided until the next meeting.
  5. At last.
    So he's finally decided to ask you out, right?

Derived terms

Translations

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