Severely

Severely is an adverb indicating a high degree of severity, intensity, or seriousness. It typically modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, emphasizing the extent of impact or condition. For example, “The drought severely affected crops” and “The building was severely damaged.”

Origin and related forms: Severely derives from the adjective severe, which in turn comes from Old French sever and Latin severus, meaning strict or serious. The noun form is severity, and related adjectives include severe and severely.

Usage notes: In formal and scientific writing, severely often conveys serious harm, injury, illness, damage, or restriction. It occurs across domains such as medicine (“severely ill”), weather (“severely windy”), law or policy (“severely restricted”), and public safety. It is not always interchangeable with extremely; severely emphasizes the seriousness or undesirability of a condition or outcome and often implies substantial impact.

Examples: The earthquake left severely damaged infrastructure. The patient was severely dehydrated. The policy severely restricts access to the area.

See also: severity; severe; severe weather; injury severity scales.