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adverb

[ad-vurb]

noun Grammar.

any member of a class of words that in many languages are distinguished in form, as partly in English by the ending -ly, or by functioning as modifiers of verbs or clauses, and in some languages, as Latin and English, also as modifiers of adjectives or other adverbs or adverbial phrases, as very, well, quickly. Adverbs typically express some relation of place, time, manner, attendant circumstance, degree, cause, inference, result, condition, exception, concession, purpose, or means.

Origin:
1520–30; < Latin adverbium, equivalent to ad- ad- + verb(um) word, verb + -ium -ium; calque of Greek epírrhēma

Related forms

ad·verb·less, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To adverb

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Adverb is always a great word to know.

So is adjective. Does it mean:

a word that describes a noun

to bind by articles of covenant or stipulation:

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Example Sentences

However, the adjective and adverb forms of "southerly" can mean either "away" or "toward" the south, depending on the context.

Then is an adverb that denotes the passage of time.

The language flows less easily off the tongue with adjectives masquerading as adverbs.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

adverb (ˈædˌvɜːb)

—n
	adv
	a. a word or group of words that serves to modify a whole sentence, a verb, another adverb, or an adjective; for example, probably, easily, very, and happily respectively in the sentence They could probably easily envy the very happily married couple
	b. (as modifier): an adverb marker

[C15--C16: from Latin adverbium adverb, literally: added word, a translation of Greek epirrhēma a word spoken afterwards]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

adverb

early 15c., from L.L. adverbium "adverb," lit. "that which is added to a verb," from ad- "to" + verbum "verb, word" (see verb). Coined by Flavius Sosipater Charisius to transl. Gk. epirrhema "adverb," from epi- "upon, on" + rhema "verb." Adverbial is from 1610s, "pertaining

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to adverbs;" earlier it meant "fond of using adverbs" (1590s).

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American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

adverb definition

A part of speech that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs usually answer such questions as “How?” “Where?” “When?” or “To what degree?” The following italicized words are adverbs: “He ran well”; “She ran very well”; “The mayor is highly capable.”

Note: Adverbs are often formed by adding -ly to an adjective, as in truly or deeply.

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sentence adverb slow -off altogether anymore anyplace

Matching Quote

"You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination. Hold the philosophy, hold the adjectives, just give us a plain subject and verb and perhaps a wholesome, nonfattening adverb or two."

-Larry McMurtry

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