formerly

1. 1.

   at a previous time

   “at one time he loved her”

   “her erstwhile writing”

   “she was a dancer once”

   Synonymsonceat one timeerstwhileerst

Questions about formerly

What does formerly mean?

formerly means "at a previous time".

How many syllables are in formerly?

formerly has 3 syllables: for-mer-ly. The stress falls on "for". In IPA it is /ˈfɔɹmɚli/.

What is another word for formerly?

Close synonyms include once, at one time, erstwhile, erst. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is formerly a common word?

formerly is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.