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any member of a class of words that function as modifiers of verbs or clauses, and in some languages, as Latin and English, as modifiers of adjectives, other adverbs, or , as very in very nice, much in much more impressive, and tomorrow in She’ll write to you tomorrow. They relate to what they modify by indicating place (I promise to be there), time (Do your homework now!), manner (She sings beautifully), circumstance (He accidentally dropped the glass when the bell rang), degree (I’m very happy to see you), or cause (I draw, although badly).
See also .
Contemporary Examples

There are the many-claused thickets of adverbs and unlikely similes of writing done on Adderall.
The Gpistolary Novel: Tao Lin’s ‘Taipei’ Emily Witt June 17, 2013

Some adverbs can modify a sentence rather than a verb alone.
Is the AP Stylebook Archaic? John McWhorter June 19, 2012

Historical Examples

Here the adverbs, very and soon, separate find from its auxiliary shall.
Plain English Marian Wharton

Why do substantives often differ in meaning from the verbs to which they are related, adverbs from adjectives?
Cratylus Plato

Adjectives are often improperly used for adverbs: as, “extreme bad weather,” for “extremely bad weather.”
Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected Anonymous

When used as adverbs they may be printed in italics without the hyphen.
The Uses of Italic Frederick W. Hamilton

Words like better and worse are adjectives or adverbs as they are joined to nouns or verbs.
The English Language Robert Gordon Latham

Helen is learning adjectives and adverbs as easily as she learned nouns.
Story of My Life Helen Keller

They had no fixed values, to be altered by adjectives and adverbs.
Before Adam Jack London

Certain prepositions and adverbs, as ov-er, und-er, af-t-er.
A Handbook of the English Language Robert Gordon Latham

noun

a word or group of words that serves to modify a whole sentence, a verb, another adverb, or an adjective; for example, probably, easily, very, and happily respectively in the sentence They could probably easily envy the very happily married couple
(as modifier): an adverb marker

adv
n.

late 14c., from Late Latin adverbium “adverb,” literally “that which is added to a verb,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + verbum “verb, word” (see verb). Coined by Flavius Sosipater Charisius as a translation of Greek epirrhema “adverb,” from epi- “upon, on” + rhema “verb.”

A part of speech that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs usually answer such questions as “How?” “Where?” “When?” or “To what degree?” The following italicized words are adverbs: “He ran well”; “She ran very well”; “The mayor is highly capable.”

Note: Adverbs are often formed by adding -ly to an adjective, as in truly or deeply.