fiercely

English

Etymology

From Middle English fersly; equivalent to fierce +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɹsli/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪəsli/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪːslɪj/, /ˈfɪjəslɪj/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈfiəsli/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈfiɾsle/, /-lɪ/, /-li/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛːsli/
• Hyphenation: fierce‧ly

Adverb

fiercely (comparative fiercelier or more fiercely, superlative fierceliest or most fiercely)

1. In a fierce manner.

   The wind blew fiercely and the rain fell heavily.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     He helped himself to a cigar and leaned back with a fiercely critical pair of eyes, taking note of the effect which this document would produce.

   • 2025 April 28, Helen Regan, Michael Rios, Darya Tarasova, Tim Lister, “Putin thanks North Korea for help in Kursk, as Germany criticizes US plan for Ukrainian concessions”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 August 2025:

     Russia said at the weekend that its forces had recaptured Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year, though Kyiv insists its troops are fiercely battling to preserve their foothold in the territory.

2. Extremely; to a large degree.

   fiercely competitive

   a fiercely loved woman

   a fiercely proud father

   fiercely disappointed

   fiercely loyal

   fiercely independent

   • 2021 May 29, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎^[2], archived from the original on 21 April 2022:

     Tuchel made it three out of three against Guardiola by producing a fiercely disciplined, positive Chelsea performance that has brought a season that was shrouded in uncertainty to the most glorious conclusion.

Translations

in a fierce manner

• Catalan: feroçment (ca)
• Finnish: raivokkaasti (fi), hurjasti (fi), tulisesti, rajusti (fi)
• French: âprement (fr), farouchement (fr)
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: fûl

• Georgian: მძვინვარედ (mʒvinvared)
• German: heftig (de), wütend (de)
• Greek: αγρίως (el) (agríos), άγρια (el) (ágria)
• Hungarian: vadul (hu)
• Italian: trucemente (it), perfidamente (it), ferocemente (it), accanitamente (it), tenacemente (it)
• Latin: ferociter (la), atrociter
• Middle English: wode, fersly
• Polish: zawzięcie (pl), ostro (pl), gwałtownie (pl)
• Portuguese: ferozmente (pt)
• Russian: свире́по (ru) (svirépo), лю́то (ru) (ljúto), жесто́ко (ru) (žestóko), я́ростно (ru) (járostno), неи́стово (ru) (neístovo)
• Serbo-Croatian: жестоко, žestoko (sh)
• Spanish: fieramente (es)
• Ukrainian: лю́то (ljúto)