• @samus12345
    link
    English
    2111 months ago

    He also shared that just the night before the incident, two people had knocked on their door severally and ran away before he opened the door.

    “WTF is severally?”

    Severally: separately or individually; each in turn.

    Guess that’s my new word for the day.

      • @samus12345
        link
        English
        511 months ago

        I thought so at first as well, but it’s an actual word.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          10
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          Right? This is the first time I’ve heard this word used like this in my life, and I’m fairly well read and educated. Like I don’t doubt it is grammatically correct, but in my opinion, a writer’s job is to communicate effectively - especially in a news article. Because using the word like this caused general confusion among the readers, it is a failed communication.

          • @samus12345
            link
            English
            511 months ago

            It’s apparently more commonly used in legal documents - explains why we haven’t encountered it before.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              5
              edit-2
              11 months ago

              Yeah you’ll often see it when co-signing a loan for example, where both parties are “both jointly and severally responsible” for the loan.

      • @samus12345
        link
        English
        5
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        I would have thought that “separately” served that purpose just fine.

        • @AnalogyAddict
          link
          411 months ago

          “Severally” connotes separated by intent. Separate and independent.