Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having or suited for a low rank or position.
- adj. Humble or meek in manner.
- adj. Plain or prosaic in nature.
- adv. In a low manner, condition, or position.
- adv. In a meek or humble manner.
- adv. Low in sound.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not high or elevated; depressed in altitude, situation, or position; lying or being low.
- Not of a high order or degree; of humble rank or kind; hence, unpretending; rude; mean: as, a lowly swain; a lowly cottage.
- Humble in manner or spirit; free from pride: modest; meek.
- Synonyms Modest, resigned, submissive, mild.
- In a humble manner or condition; humbly; meekly; modestly.
- Without distinction or dignity; meanly.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not high; not elevated in place; low.
- adj. Low in rank or social importance.
- adj. Not lofty or sublime; humble.
- adj. Having a low esteem of one's own worth; humble; meek; free from pride.
- adv. In a low manner; humbly; meekly; modestly.
- adv. In a low condition; meanly.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not high; not elevated in place; low.
- adj. Low in rank or social importance.
- adj. Not lofty or sublime; humble.
- adj. Having a low esteem of one's own worth; humble; meek; free from pride.
- adv. In a low manner; humbly; meekly; modestly.
- adv. In a low condition; meanly.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense)
- adj. used of unskilled work (especially domestic work)
- adj. inferior in rank or status
- adj. low or inferior in station or quality
Etymologies
- From low + -ly. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The higher up you went, and they called the lowly social worker, all hell broke up.”
“Those worse off than Australia included the United States (150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.”
“And worst of all betided me, on my return, was one Who came to me, in lowly guise, to glory in my pain.”
“So, what are we to make of the fact that various plants, and even certain lowly fungi, contain molecules that coincidentally fit neatly into certain receptors on certain brain cells so as to produce feelings of pleasure?”
“She afterwards joined her husband at the house of his parents in Helpstone, his "own old home of homes," as he fondly called the lowly cottage in one of his most pathetic poems, and there they all remained, with the offspring of the marriage, until the removal to”
Life and Remains of John Clare "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet"
“She afterwards joined her husband at the house of his parents in Helpstone, his “own old home of homes,” as he fondly called the lowly cottage in one of his most pathetic poems, and there they all remained, with the offspring of the marriage, until the removal to Northborough in 1832.”
Life and Remains of John Clare
“In the 19th century, it referred to a lowly schoolboy.”
“Considering how safe, and quiet, and easy, those are that are of a humble spirit, what communion they have with God and comfort in themselves, we will say, With the lowly is wisdom.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“Again with the lowly background: her father, Sir Henry Martin, was comptroller of his Majesty's navy, and an MP, which can hardly be described as a lowly background.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lowly’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Adverbia
A long list of adverbs, beginning with full-drive. Someone had to list them. This list in continued in the list More Adverbia.
Read some sniping and some informative commentary about a...full-drive, portentously, unlawfully, legally, heterogeneously, consumingly, clancularly, inconsolably, prepositionally, retrogressively, symptomatically, decrepitly and 2460 more...
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Jacqueline's Words
glittery, horny, amazing, wanderlust, forlorn, lustily, nonchalant, cool, passive, submissive, roundabout, carousel and 558 more...
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