stationarily

Stationarily is an adverb formed from the adjective stationary. It means performing or existing in a stationary, fixed, or nonmoving manner. The term can also describe a condition that remains constant over time, when applied to objects, processes, or orientations relative to a reference frame.

Origin and related forms: The word comes from stationary, itself from French or Latin roots meaning standing in place. The related noun is stationarity; the noun 'stationery' (paper and writing materials) is a common homophone, often confused with stationary and stationarily in everyday writing. Stationarily is rare in ordinary language and more likely to appear in technical or formal prose.

Usage: In physics, engineering, and geography, stationarily might describe an object that does not move or a measurement that remains fixed in direction. In statistics and probability, speakers more often use "stationary" to describe a process with time-invariant properties; "stationarily" may appear in longer descriptions of how a state behaves, but it is less common.

Examples: The drone hovered but remained stationarily oriented toward the target. The sensor array was stationarily mounted to the chassis. In long-term observations, a system described as stationarily configured implies its essential properties do not drift over the observation period.