of ‧ fi ‧ cial ‧ ly /əˈfɪʃ ə li/ BrE AmE adverb
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ office , ↑ officer , ↑ official , ↑ officialdom , ↑ officialese , ↑ officiousness ; adverb : ↑ officially ≠ ↑ unofficially , ↑ officiously ; adjective : ↑ official ≠ ↑ unofficial , ↑ officious ; verb : ↑ officiate ]
1 . publicly or formally:
The new church was officially opened on July 5th.
Nothing has yet been officially announced.
The scheme was officially launched in May.
Has the company officially confirmed the appointment?
the number of officially recognized political parties
2 . [sentence adverb] according to what someone says publicly, even though this may not be true:
Officially, the talks never took place.