Alimentarily

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Relating to nourishment, especially regarding the process of providing food or sustenance to living organisms
2. Pertaining to the ways in which food contributes to health and energy for biological systems
3. Concerning the aspects of dietary intake and the effects of nutrition on overall well-being

Etymology: "Alimentarily" is formed from "alimentary," which comes from Latin "alimentarius," meaning "pertaining to food or nourishment," itself from "alimentum" (nourishment), a noun built on "alere," "to nourish." Latin "alimentum" passed into English in the 1400s and 1500s as "aliment," meaning food or sustenance, and the adjective "alimentary" followed in the 1600s, initially applied to the body's food-processing system, a sense still preserved in the phrase "alimentary canal." The adverb takes the adjective's sense and adds the English suffix "-ly," producing a term for doing something in relation to nourishment. Its use is largely technical or formal, appearing mostly in nutrition and medical writing, where a writer needs a single word to cover diet and its bodily effects together.

Synonyms: nutritionally, dietarily, gastrointestinally