ideallyadv.
/ʌɪˈdɪəl(l)i/, /ʌɪˈdiːəl(l)i/, U.S. /aɪˈdi(ə)li/ In an ideal manner.
1. In idea, mental conception, or imagination; mentally, imaginarily.In later use tending to merge with sense 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > [adverb]
fantastically1526
ideally1598
imaginably1644
fancifully1809
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Ideale, ideally, figuratiuely, formely, imaginatiuely [1611 ideally or figuratiuely, by imagination].
a1618 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 861 What they had Ideally from Art, That Really I to a Prince impart.
1734 R. Morris Lect. Archit. ii. 24 The Mechanick ideally sees Multitudes of various Machines for Conveyance of Timber, Stone, Water &c. all perfect and pleasing to his Imagination.
1768 tr. Voltaire L'Ingenu xvi. 122 Though he be ideally your husband, and you are in hopes he will be such, he is not so in effect; consequently you will not commit adultery.
1816 S. T. Coleridge Statesman's Man. App. p. v Reason and Religion differ only as a two-fold application of the same power. But if we are obliged to distinguish, we must ideally separate.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xxvi. 374 The branches..have..been ideally prolonged across the moraines.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. vi. lviii. 280 It seemed now that her marriage was visibly as well as ideally floating her above the Middlemarch level.
1916 E. J. Scott & L. B. Stowe Booker T. Washington ii. 35 Some persons claim that any such plan of race adjustment, while theoretically plausible and ideally desirable, is nevertheless practically impossible.
1961 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. Social Sci. 334 149/2 He sees that system in a dream, as it ideally might be and not as it really is.
2007 M. Shaw What is Genocide? vi. 87 Real phenomena rarely correspond exactly to the ideally constructed pure type.
2. As an idea in the Platonic or theological sense; in relation to ideas in this sense: see idea n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > an individual case or instance > [adverb] > as typical representative of a class > in relation to a type
ideally1615
1615 T. Jackson Iustifying Faith ii. iv. 174 Good affection..doth presently seeke vpon the first sight of his legend to fasten it selfe vpon our Sauiour, in whom nothing truely admirable or praise worthy, but is ideally absolute and perfect.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iii. ix. 124 A transmission is made materially from some parts, and Ideally from every one.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 582 The Third..doth Actively display, and Produce into Being, what was..contained..Ideally or Exemplarily in the Second.
1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. ii. 36 As these figures..must first be conceived that they might be made, so they must be that they might be conceived, and consequently must exist ideally in order to their existing naturally.
1713 tr. P. Poiret Divine Œconomy I. vi. 87 The Power which God shed forth out of himself, to make that to be actually, or if you will, materially, substantially or subjectively, which formerly was only Ideally in his Conception.
1854 Mechanics' Mag. 12 Aug. 147/2 No type, whether generic and therefore ideally manifested, or specific and therefore manifested actually and through individuals.
1883 G. Barlow Actor's Reminisc. 10 And know the passions of the universe As God discerns them all, ideally.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Compl. Poems (1993) 328 Does not a supreme Intellect ideally procreate the Universe?
2003 L. Gerson Knowing Persons v. 238 Plato held that knowledge, ideally conceived, is not available to us while embodied.
3.
a. In conformity with what is ideal; to the highest conceivable degree of excellence; so as to satisfy every requirement, to perfection. Frequently in (to be) ideally suited.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adverb] > ideally
ideally1795
1795 G. Walker House of Tynian IV. xlii. 150 Thus she, who had spurned at the alliance of Sabina, when ideally possessed of immense wealth, now condescended to solicit that alliance, when poverty and virtue were her only portion.
1833 J. Black tr. A. W. Schlegel Course Lect. Dramatic Art xii. 323 Nothing can be more fresh and youthful, nothing at once so ideally pastoral and princely as the love of Florizel and Perdita.
1859 Baroness Bunsen in A. J. C. Hare Life & Lett. Baroness Bunsen (1879) II. iv. 243 Our ideally delightful journey.
1875 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life (ed. 2) ii. iii. 66 An ideally perfect history would tell the pure truth.
1885 Manch. Examiner 4 May 5/2 This fluid is..by no means an ideally pure water.
1929 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 33 361 The ideally streamline aeroplane cannot exist.
1943 Troy (N.Y.) Record 14 Oct. 16/6 It usually requires 10 years to raise a cinchona or quinine tree to the point where its bark is ideally suited for quinine extraction.
1971 R. Brewer Approach to Print iii. 48 Offset is ideally equipped to handle film or positives in the most direct and economical manner.
2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 276/1 (caption) The Siberian husky is ideally suited to very cold climates.
b. As a sentence adverb: if things are or were ideal, in an ideal situation.
ΚΠ
1883 Academy 6 Oct. 224/2 A commentator on any book, though ideally he ought to know it, ought not to notice it at each of the instances that he meets.
1928 E. D. McDonald Bibliogr. Writings T. Dreiser 24 A bibliography of a living writer..should be undertaken..to make easily available for students, critics, bibliophiles, and other interested persons an accurate and, ideally, a complete record of his literary endeavors.
1957 B. Hammond Banks & Polit. in Amer. (1991) x. 277 Mr Gallatin would have been a better choice, ideally.
1965 W. Swaan Japanese Lantern xii. 136 Ideally, one should assume the cross-legged ‘Lotus Posture’ familiar from Buddha images.
2005 C. Tudge Secret Life Trees xiv. 394 Wild forest ideally should surely be kept pristine.
4. Biology. In relation to a general plan or archetype (of a class or group of organisms). Now rare (chiefly historical).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > taxonomy > [adverb] > in relation to archetype
ideally1859
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species vi. 191 The swim-bladder is homologous, or ‘ideally similar’, in position and structure with the lungs of the higher..animals.
1896 Duke of Argyll Philos. Belief 108 To designate this theoretically, or ideally, fundamental form.
1933 Science 13 Jan. 35/2 Uniting characters of the earliest insectivores and carnivores, they show an ideally primitive stage in tritubercular upper molars.
1965 Isis 56 267 The archetype is a scheme of what is ideally constant in the vertebrate skeleton.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adv.1598