Definately

/ˈdɛfənətli/ adverb

Definition

A common misspelling of 'definitely', meaning without doubt or certainly.

Etymology

This is a misspelling that arose from phonetic confusion with the correct spelling 'definitely'. The error likely stems from the pronunciation pattern and analogy with words ending in '-ate'.

Kelly Says

This misspelling is so common that it appears in millions of online texts, making it one of the most frequent spelling errors in English. The mistake persists because the phonetic structure seems logical to many writers, even though the correct form derives from 'definite' plus the suffix '-ly'.

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