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# mercifully

«mercifully» in Mova's school dictionary: **thankful for, because something bad was avoided or ended:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adverb (mercifully)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Luckily; in a way that you are thankful for, because something bad was avoided or ended: «Mercifully, nobody was hurt». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#m1)

2) In a kind and forgiving way, showing mercy: «the king acted mercifully». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday talk and stories, «mercifully» usually means «thank goodness»: «The test was mercifully short». It shows relief. The older sense means acting with mercy, like a judge or king who forgives. Phrases: «mercifully short», «mercifully, it stopped raining».

### examples

- Mercifully, the rain stopped before the match. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x1)
- The speech was mercifully short. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x2)
- Mercifully, nobody was hurt in the crash. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x3)
- The queen acted mercifully and set the prisoner free. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x4)
- The long car journey mercifully ended at last. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x5)
- Mercifully, I had remembered my coat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x6)
- The dentist was quick, mercifully. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x7)
- The judge mercifully gave him a second chance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x8)
- Mercifully, the cow slept through it all, or by her cries she would have awakened the master. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/#x9)

### note

Adverb from «merciful» + «-ly». Usually at the start of a sentence with a comma: «Mercifully, …». Related: mercy, merciful, merciless (with no mercy). Not a maths word.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «mercifully» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mercifully/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.
