Extravagantly

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner that is excessively elaborate, costly, or lacking in moderation or restraint
2. In a style that denotes extreme lavishness, excessive splendor, and a complete disregard for restraint
3. In a way that exhibits remarkable opulence, excessive indulgence, or total absence of moderation

Etymology: "Extravagantly" is simply "extravagant" plus the adverb ending "-ly," so its story is really the story of the adjective. "Extravagant" started out with a literal sense of wandering beyond bounds: it was built from Latin "extra," meaning "outside," and "vagari," meaning "to wander." A thing that strayed outside its proper limits was extravagant, and the sense of spending or behaving beyond what is reasonable grew naturally from that. The ending has an older history than the rest of the word. The "-ly" suffix descends from the Old English "-līċe," which was itself tied to the word for "body" or "form," so that "-ly" once carried the idea of "in the manner of" or "in the form of." Over the centuries it became the standard way to turn adjectives into adverbs, and it attached itself to "extravagant" just as it did to countless others.

Synonyms: lavishly, excessively, wastefully

Antonyms: economically, frugally