evidently, adv.
(ˈɛvɪdəntlɪ)
[f. evident a. + -ly2.]
† 1. So as to be distinctly visible or perceptible; with perfect clearness, conspicuously. Hence in active sense, with vbs. of perceiving, knowing, explaining, etc.: Without possibility of mistake or misunderstanding; clearly, distinctly. Obs. or arch.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. xi. 101 Þanne alle the dyrknesse of his mysknowynge shal seen..euydently to [þe] syhte of his vndyrstondynge. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 1 Whiche grace euidently to me knowen and understonde hath compelled me [etc.]. 1551 Turner Herbal i. B viij a, It is evidently knowen that water will wexe thycke, if this roite be brused and put in it. 1584 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 39 We haue here most manifestlie & most euidentlie written the contrarie. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. viii. (1611) 21 Things which men by the light of their naturall vnderstanding euidently know. 1611 Bible Gal. iv. 1 O foolish Galatians..before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently [Revised, openly] set forth. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 277, I found the way go evidently down hill. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xii. (1854) II. 41 An act..which evidently disclosed his [Tacitus'] intention of transmitting the empire to his descendants. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 435 All the substances hitherto examined..have evidently appeared to be compounded of one or more of these elementary principles. 1833 Cruse Eusebius i. vi. 31 And this is evidently proved to have been fulfilled. |
2. So that the fact predicated is evident; manifestly, obviously. Now chiefly parenthetic; = ‘as manifestly appears’, ‘as may be clearly inferred’.
| 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxix. §5 No Idea, therefore, can be undistinguishable from another..for from all other, it is evidently different. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 387 Those who walk and talk in their Sleep, have evidently the Nerves of the Muscles so free, as that, etc. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxxvi. 292 Reason was so evidently on their side. 1839 Thirlwall Greece VIII. 391 They evidently regarded Macedonia as a bulwark against the encroachments of Rome. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 71 The spirit and the muscles were evidently at war. |
† 3. Sc. Law. By evidence of a deed or document. Obs.
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Forme of Proces 118 Quhen the defender proves his exception, or duplie, be sic wreit, and evidently as said is, lib. i. c. 25. 12. quon attach. c. 81. |