Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Like; resembling; having the characteristics of: sisterly.
- n. Recurring at a specified interval of time: hourly.
- n. In a specified manner; in the manner of: gradually.
- n. At a specified interval of time: weekly.
- n. With respect to: partly.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- An obsolete form of lie .
- A common adjective suffix, forming, from nouns, adjectives signifying ‘of the form or nature of’ or ‘like’ the thing denoted by the noun: as in manly, womanly, godly, lordly, princely, of the nature of, like, or suited to a man, woman, etc.; bodily, earthly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc., belonging to or being of the body, the earth, a day, etc.; lovely, heartly (obs.), etc. Such adjectives, implying ‘like,’ are often accompanied by more definite adjectives in -like: as, manlike, woman-like, etc. The suffix is also used with some adjectives, as goodly, lowly, etc., and with some verbs, as comely, seemly, etc. They are usually accompanied by adverbs now of the same form. See -ly .
- A common adverbial suffix, forming from adjectives adverbs signifying ‘in a manner’ denoted by the adjective: as, quickly, slowly, coldly, hotly, etc., loudly, harshly, etc. It is the most common adverbial suffix. In adverbs from nouns, as manly, womanly, etc., the adverb has the same form as the adjective in -ly , from which it is derived. The suffix is sometimes used with adjectives in -ly , as in seemlily, surlily, godlily, etc. Its use with primary adjectives, with no current adjective in -ly intervening (quickly, etc.), is more recent, but is now the prevalent one.
Wiktionary
- n. Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "like or characteristic of what is denoted by the noun".
- n. Used to form adverbs from adjectives.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A suffix forming adjectives and adverbs, and denoting likeness or resemblance.
Etymologies
- From Old English -līċe. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English -li, from Old English -līc (influenced by Old Norse -ligr); see līk- in Indo-European roots.Middle English -li, from Old English -līce (influenced by Old Norse -liga), from -līc, adj. suff.; see līk- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The principle of using a hyphen to avoid confusion explains why no hyphen is required with very and with -ly adverbs.”
Simon & Schuster: Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage
“If you never ponder how language works, you come to view an adverb as a word that ends in “-ly.””
“On the stump and in press conferences, the former speaker of the House has a penchant for seasoning his speech with words that end in -ly.”
“FLATOW: So you get them to think differently that way, and he didn't use the "-ly" on his version of - to have sort of battles in the company to get the most creative ideas out.”
“Don’t use a hyphen between adverbs ending in -ly and the words they modify: a rapidly rising rate.”
Simon & Schuster: Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘-ly’.
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Suffixes!! & affixes!! prefixes!! oh ...
suffixes, affixes, prefixes added onto words to explain the present/past/future happening.
-for fun-ness
add one to the begining/or ending of any word to make up your own. =)
ex: ...-ism, -ly, -ity, -ious, able, -istic, lovelify, junkiness, punkiness, weirdlier, slopperie, stimulatify and 19 more...
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Morphemes
morphemes greek and latin prefixes, suffixes and roots.
http://www.learnthat.org/vocabulary/pages/view/roots.htmlkinein, matic, thermo, a-, ob-, pro-, inflection, semantics, syntax, derivational suff..., inflectional suff..., morpheme and 87 more...
Tweets
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