Astronomically

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way connected to the study of celestial bodies and space ; to an exceptionally vast or huge extent
2. According to principles or matters concerning the universe beyond Earth ; by a degree that is enormously great or excessive
3. Involving the science of stars, planets, and galaxies ; expressing a size or amount far beyond ordinary levels

Etymology: Astronomically is a plain formation: the adjective "astronomical" with the adverbial suffix "-ly" attached. The adjective comes from "astronomy," which itself traces back through Latin "astronomia" to Greek "astronomia," from "astron" (star) and "nomos" (law, arrangement), so the word as a whole means something like "star-arrangement." The adverb's second, hyperbolic sense, "to an enormous extent," grew from the idea of distances and quantities so vast that only astronomers' figures could describe them. The suffix has a long ancestry of its own. The "-ly" ending descends from an element meaning "body" or "form" (its earliest traceable form is "-līc" in Old English), and it was added to nouns and adjectives to turn them into adverbs of manner, so "astronomically" literally means "in an astronomical manner." Its older forms, "-līċe" in Old English and "-ly" in Middle English, show how the ending gradually wore down into the modern spelling.

Synonyms: enormously, immensely, vastly

Antonyms: minimally, slightly