thankfully, adv.
(ˈθæŋkfʊlɪ)
[f. prec. + -ly2.]
In a thankful manner.
I. 1. a. With thankfulness; with thanks; gratefully.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1890) II. 198 Þa onᵹeat eustachius þæt seo fore-sæde costnung him ða æt wæs and þancfullice hi under-feng. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 130 Siþ Crist suffride þus for synne of his breþeren, þei schulden suffre þancfulli for þer own synne. 1567 Triall Treas. (1850) 18, I cannot but thankefully render Such commendations as is requisite to be. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 79 Yet Heauen's bounty towards him might Be vs'd more thankfully. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 248 He accepted thankfully all my presents. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 365 We will desire the one to give their instructions freely, and the others to receive them thankfully. |
† b. With satisfaction; graciously. Obs.
| 1513 Douglas æneis i. ix. heading, How Eneas with all his rowt bedene War thankfullie ressavit of the quene. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 90 The king grantit the same verray thankfullie. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. *v, Receaue thankfully this my laboure. |
† 2. So as to gratify, please, or satisfy; acceptably, pleasingly; satisfactorily. Obs.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andreas) 877 He liffit sa thankfully to god and mane. 1482 Exch. Rolls Scotl. IX. 284 note, That ye redily and thankfully content and pay to the said Johne..the said yerely pensioun. 1500 Ibid. XI. 266 note, That ye cause hir to be thankfullie pait of hir said pension. 1538 Elyot, Placabiliter, thankefully, contentfully. 1576 in Maitl. Cl. Misc. (1840) I. 16 The prices tharof salbe thankfullie allowit to ȝow in ȝour comptis. |
† 3. Gratuitously; for thanks alone. Obs.
| 1552 Huloet, Thanckfully, or for nothynge, or without rewarde or deserte, but onelye for gramercye, gratim. |
II. 4. Let us be thankful (that); one is thankful to say. orig. U.S.
This use as a sentence adverb, like hopefully adv. 2, is deprecated by some writers.
| 1966 in W. Follett Mod. Amer. Usage 170/1 The ‘suicide needle’ which—thankfully—he didn't see fit to use. 1969 Chatelaine July 1/1 Thankfully there are fewer movies to endure in which the men have all the lines. 1976 Shooting Mag. Dec. 41/2 An alarming safety situation..caused many a raised eyebrow but thankfully nothing worse. 1980 New Society 3 Jan. 33/2 But thankfully social workers will plod on, hopefully with small regard for new fashions. 1982 Daily Tel. 30 Aug. 8/4 Thankfully, however, the old style has not entirely disappeared. 1983 Times 11 Nov. 2/4 Aldabra Island in the Indian Ocean, where man ‘has thankfully failed to establish himself’. |