What does fiercely mean?
Word: Fiercely
Part of Speech: Adverb
Meaning: Fiercely means in a strong, wild or very determined way, with a lot of energy or anger.
Synonyms: furiously, ferociously, savagely
Antonyms: gently, calmly, mildly
How do you spell fiercely?
Syllables: fierce - ly
Tricky part: Fierce has i before e, and it keeps its final e when ly is added. Writers often swap the vowels (feircely) or drop the e (fiercly).
Watch out for: feircely, fiercly, fearcely
Memory tip: Hold on to the e: a fierce tiger does not let go of its prey, and fierce does not let go of its e before ly.
Fiercely in a sentence
Example 1: The mother hen pecked fiercely at the cat that came near her chicks.
Example 2: The wind blew so fiercely that the shop signs rattled all night.
Example 3: My grandmother is fiercely proud of her village in Punjab.
Fun Fact
Fierce goes back to the Latin ferus, meaning wild, the same root that gives English ferocious and feral.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
fierscely
a) c
b) r
c) s
d) e
Show answer
c) s. The s sound in fierce is written with a c alone, as it is in pierce.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of 'fiercely' as it is used in the sentence:
The two teams competed fiercely for the inter-school football trophy.
a) intensely
b) nervously
c) briefly
d) fairly
Show answer
a) intensely. Competing fiercely means with great force and effort, which is what intensely says.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. resistence 2. persuit 3. fiercely 4. occurence
a) the act of chasing or trying to get something
b) with great force, energy or anger
c) something that happens
d) the act of fighting against something
Show answer
b) with great force, energy or anger. Resistance ends in -ance, pursuit begins pur, and occurrence doubles the r; fiercely is the one written correctly.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
The puppy tugged cyfreile at the end of the rope and would not let go.
a) feverishly
b) freely
c) fearlessly
d) fiercely
Show answer
d) fiercely. Freely has no c, and feverishly and fearlessly need an s; only fiercely uses these eight letters.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A dog that barks fiercely at a stranger is ____.
a) sleepy and calm
b) lost and shy
c) angry and loud
d) playful and quiet
Show answer
c) angry and loud
2. Which word could take the place of 'fiercely' in 'She fiercely defended her friend'?
a) strongly
b) barely
c) quietly
d) lazily
Show answer
a) strongly
