definitely
/ˈdɛf.ɪ.nɪt.li/adverb
definitely is spelled D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is definetly: about 1,940 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Definitely is an adverb meaning “Without question and beyond doubt”.
How many letters and syllables are in definitely?
| Letters | 10: D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 91 times per million words; the 1,167th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 10; the most searched, definetly, about 1,940 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell definitely?
Definitely is spelled D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. 10 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for definitely in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is definitely?
Definitely appears 91 times per million words in written English, the 1,167th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce definitely?
- US /ˈdɛf.ɪ.nɪt.li/
- US /ˈdɛf.ə.nɪt.li/
- US /ˈdɛf.nɪt.li/
Definitely has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-definitely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of definitely
- more definitely comparative
- most definitely superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does definitely mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Without question and beyond doubt.
Joe definitely doesn't know how to drive a tractor.
- 2
In a definite manner; decisively.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate definitely?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of definitely: def, deff.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Definitely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense without question and beyond doubt:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | décidément, certainement, sans conteste, assurément |
| German | definitiv, bestimmt, sicher |
| Portuguese | definitivamente |
| Spanish | definitivamente, indudablemente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does definitely come from?
From definite + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).