rightfully

English

Etymology

From Middle English ryghtefully, equivalent to rightful + -ly.

Adverb

rightfully (comparative more rightfully, superlative most rightfully)

  1. In accordance with what is right or just; fairly.
    • The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. -- John Stuart Mill
  2. Rightly, correctly.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:
      Ne euer will it breake, ne euer bend. / Wherefore Morddure it rightfully is hight.
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