vagueness You use fairly instead of `very' to add emphasis to an adjective or adverb without making it sound too forceful. Were you always fairly bright at school? I'll have no income and no home and will need a job fairly badly. = pretty see also fair
in a fair evenhanded manner; "deal fairly with one another" in conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating; "they played fairly
Fairly means to quite a large degree. For example, if you say that something is fairly old, you mean that it is old but not very old. Both ships are fairly new We did fairly well but only fairly well. = quite
to a moderately sufficient extent or degree; "the shoes are priced reasonably"; "he is fairly clever with computers"; "they lived comfortably within reason"
in conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating; "they played fairly"