Mightily means with great force, effort, or intensity. When you struggle mightily with a difficult math problem, you're putting everything you have into solving it. When a knight in a story fights mightily against a dragon, he's battling with tremendous strength and determination.

The word captures that feeling of going all-out, of not holding anything back. A team that tries mightily to win a championship pours their hearts into every practice and game, giving maximum effort. When you work mightily to improve at something, whether piano or soccer or writing, you're dedicating serious energy to getting better.

Mightily can also mean “very much” or “extremely.” If you're mightily impressed by a magic trick, you're truly amazed. If you're mightily pleased with your science project, you're deeply satisfied with how it turned out.

The word connects to might, which means strength or power. When you do something mightily, you're doing it with all the might you can summon, like a weightlifter straining mightily to lift a heavy barbell or a writer working mightily to find exactly the right words.