well and truly
7
3.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
bien y verdaderamente
- For the moment, his spirit was well and truly broken.
- well and truly dead
Oh my God, I'm well and truly butchering this shot.
- Oh my God, I'm well and truly butchering this shot.
- They all come in, They all walked around and well and truly done people's heads in.
- And so with that caveat well and truly noted, let's go and take a closer look.
- Even when Charles's son Charles eventually becomes king again, Parliament keeps all their new powers and capitalism is well and truly let off the leash.
Examples
-
Any delays, and your hip pocket could well and truly be sorry.
Blog text (31) -
But the choice was well and truly out of her hands now.
Fiction book (1991) -
With this one score here, it could well and truly be over.
-
It's well and truly on fire.
-
And I'm well and truly sorry.
-
However, we all know that those glory days are well and truly over.
Blog text (26) -
'America had well and truly exceeded our expectations.'
-
And so with that caveat well and truly noted, let's go and take a closer look.
-
With the upcoming release of the Wii U, the Eighth Generation is well and truly upon us.
Blog text (9) -
The proposal was well and truly accepted by everyone at the meeting.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Completely and without any doubt
∞
1.0
Totally, in every way
∞
1.0
To be complete with nothing left out
∞
1.0
In a real and honest way
∞
1.0
Completely, with nothing left out
∞
2.2
Completely without leaving anything out
775
1.0
Completely, to show that something is true
259
3.5
To do something completely and carefully
236
3.6
Completely, to show that something is very strong or very great
149
3.3
Completely with nothing left
91
3.7
To say something is complete or very strong to make a point
84
3.4
Completely in every way
8
2.3
Totally and without any doubt
Antonyms
How Complete
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a direct combination of two adverbial intensifiers—'well' (to a high degree) and 'truly' (really)—joined by 'and' to reinforce meaning. This simple additive intensification yields 'completely/definitely,' a sense readily inferable from the constituents and common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the words should understand it.
Etymology
Well and truly may come from the old habit of putting two strong words together to make a point sure: well (meaning fully) and truly (meaning really). That's why it now means 'completely' or 'definitely'.