Origin: Germanic Old English prefix
Formerly has 2 different meanings across 1 category:
at a previous time
"at one time he loved her"
"her erstwhile writing"
"she was a dancer once"
at some time in the past
"She formerly lived near the ocean before moving to the city for work."
In plain English: Formerly means something happened or existed in the past but is no longer true now.
"He formerly worked for a major bank before starting his own business."
Usage: Use formerly to indicate that someone held a specific position or had a particular status in the past but no longer does. It functions as an adverb to modify verbs or entire clauses describing previous states of being.
Formerly is formed by adding the suffix -ly to former. This construction simply means "in a previous state," reflecting its original meaning without significant shift over time.