vastly
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Meaning
To a very great degree or extent
Structure
Usage
The city has changed vastly since my last visit.
Her second novel was vastly more successful than her first.
The two theories are vastly different in their approach.
Etymology
The word "vastly" is built upon the adjective "vast," which entered English in the late 16th century from Latin vastus. The Latin term carried a dual sense of immense physical size and a resulting emptiness or desolation, a meaning traceable to the Proto-Indo-European root h₁weh₂-, meaning "to leave, abandon, give out." The adverbial suffix "-ly" is of Germanic origin, from Old English -līce, used to form adverbs from adjectives. Therefore, "vastly" literally means "in a vast manner." Over time, as "vast" softened from its original connotations of emptiness to emphasize great extent or degree, "vastly" evolved to function primarily as an intensifier, signifying a very large measure or difference rather than a literal physical scale.
Analysis
vast: From Latin vastus meaning "immense, extensive, empty, desolate." Functions as the core adjective root. ly: From Old English -līc, an adverbial suffix meaning "having the qualities of" or "in a specified manner."