ad|verb

ad|verb «AD vurb», noun.

1. a word that tells how, when, or where something happens. In “He walked slowly,” “He came late,” “I saw her there,” and “She sings well,” slowly, late, there, and well are adverbs. Adverbs also tell how much or how little is meant. In “This soup is very good” and “She is rather slow,” very and rather are adverbs. An adverb is used to extend or limit the meaning of a verb (he ran fast), an adjective (exceedingly bright), another adverb (very quickly), or a phrase, clause, or even a whole sentence (almost through the wall; just what I wanted; finally, I went home). Most adverbs are made up of adjectives or participles plus the ending -ly, like badly in “He rowed badly” and deservedly in “She was deservedly popular.”

2. a form class or part of speech comprising these or similar words. Abbr: adv.

╂[< Latin adverbium < ad- to + verbum verb, word]

Usage Many of the very frequently used adverbs have no formal feature identifying them as adverbs (soon, there, twice, etc.). In some recent analyses of English syntax, some of the words that have traditionally been classified as adverbs but are greatly restricted in the part they play in organization of English sentences are separated from the adverb class and assigned to their own classes. For instance, very, more, somewhat are sometimes assigned to a class of intensifiers; therefore to a class of sentence connectors.