MERCIFULLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mercifully mean? 

• MERCIFULLY (adverb)
  The adverb MERCIFULLY has 1 sense:

1. in a compassionate manner

  Familiarity information: MERCIFULLY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MERCIFULLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a compassionate manner

Context example:

he dealt with the thief mercifully

Pertainym:

merciful (showing or giving mercy)

 Context examples 

I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the same position.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mercifully unconscious of what she had done, Jo sat with her nose in the air, and a revolutionary aspect which was anything but inviting.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Arthur had then fallen into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Previous detections of clouds by Hubble at the boundary between day and night, where temperatures mercifully fall, have shown that titanium oxide (popular as a sunscreen) and aluminum oxide (the basis for ruby, the gemstone) could also be molecularly reborn on the ultrahot Jupiters' nightsides.

(Water Is Destroyed, Then Reborn in Ultrahot Jupiters, NASA/JPL)

A sad eclipse of the serene soul, a sharp struggle of the young life with death, but both were mercifully brief, and then the natural rebellion over, the old peace returned more beautiful than ever.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)