Finally means after a long time, many steps, or much effort, something has at last happened. It can also introduce the last point in a list.
It comes from “final” plus the adverb ending “-ly,” ultimately from Latin “finis,” meaning “end.” It literally means “in a final way” or “at the end.”
When you say “Finally!” you’re compressing a whole story of waiting into one word. In speeches or essays, “finally” works like a road sign telling the listener, “We’re at the last stop now.”
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