Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adverb
- in a happy manner; with pleasure.
- by good fortune; luckily; providentially.
- felicitously; aptly; appropriately: a happily turned phrase.
mid-14c., “by chance or accident,” from happy + -ly (2). Meaning “fortunate, lucky” is late 14c.; that of “appropriately” is from 1570s. Happily ever after recorded by 1853.
see live happily ever after.