What does severally mean?
Severely is an adverb with two principal uses. In its more common modern sense, it describes something done to a serious or intense degree: a road may be severely damaged, a person may be severely injured, or a problem may severely affect an entire community. It can therefore suggest both physical harm and the substantial scale or seriousness of an impact. Its second sense is older and more formal: to do something severally means to do it separately or independently, often by dividing it into parts or considering it in several different ways. This use appears especially in legal, administrative, and academic English. Although severely can sometimes suggest harshness, it is often simply a precise way of expressing degree. Severally is now less frequent than severely, but it remains useful when distinguishing intensity from separation or plurality.
In a severe or intense manner; harshly or seriously.
"The flood severely disrupted transport and communications."
Common in formal and descriptive writing; the intensity it expresses can refer to degree, damage, or severity rather than deliberate harshness.
Separately or independently, especially in several different ways or parts.
"The committee considered the two objections severally."
Formal and comparatively uncommon in everyday speech; especially characteristic of legal and academic prose.
One word can mean both “intensely” and “in separate parts,” depending on what it is describing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does severally come from?
Severally was formed in English from the adjective severe with the adverbial suffix -ly. The adjective severe derives ultimately from Latin severus, meaning strict, serious, or severe. Related English words include severity, severance, and sever, which preserve the broader Latin family associated with separation and strictness.
Related word forms
How severally is actually used
The adverb is formal and somewhat literary in both meanings. In modern use, “severely” is much more common; the sense of ‘separately’ is especially likely in legal, academic, or formal contexts.
Easily confused with severally
Severely means to a severe or intense degree, whereas severally means separately or independently, often in several ways.
Several means more than two but not many, while severally describes doing something separately or in multiple ways.