is "purposely" an actual word? [closed]

I grew up in Malaysia and Singapore, and it's taken me a long time to dissect my vocabulary into "local slang, incomprehensible/incorrect elsewhere" and "proper English".

'Purposely' is one of those words that's just felt wrong to me for a while. It's an adverb of the + 'ly' form, except that "purpose" isn't an adjective. However, I've seen the word used so often on the Internet I can't help but feel that it's not just us South-East Asians doing it.

Is "purposely" grammatically correct? If so, in what context? If not, what is an appropriate substitute, and why is it so common?

Solution 1:

Purposely has been used in English for over 500 years to mean both ‘0n purpose, by design; intentionally, deliberately’ and ‘with the particular purpose specified’. You may use it without fear of censure.

Solution 2:

It's an adverb and there's nothing wrong with it. Here is what NOAD has to say:

purposely |ˈpərpəslē|
adverb
on purpose; intentionally: she had purposely made it difficult.

Solution 3:

Yes, it's a real word and grammatically correct. Here's a Merriam-Webster definition an example of how it's correctly used:

Definition of PURPOSELY adverb

: with a deliberate or express purpose

"the real estate agent purposely withheld information that would have discouraged us from buying the property"

This kind of question can easily be answered by checking a standard collegiate dictionary or an online dictionary.