Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Delicate in constitution; frail or sickly.
  • adverb With little physical strength or force.
  • adverb With little strength of character.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Weak; feeble; not robust: as, a weakly woman; a man of weakly constitution.
  • In a weak manner, in any sense of the word weak.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a weak manner; with little strength or vigor; feebly.
  • adjective Not strong of constitution; infirm; feeble

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Frail, sickly or of a delicate constitution; weak.
  • adverb With little strength or force

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in a weak or feeble manner or to a minor degree
  • adjective lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

weak +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • I heard her call my name weakly as I slammed my car door.

    Here Comes Another Lesson Stephen O’Connor 2010

  • A term weakly normalizes when it has an nf, whereas a term strongly normalizes when all its reduction sequences lead to an nf

    Combinatory Logic Bimbó, Katalin 2008

  • As a collection of four mini-games, emphasis on the "mini," this title weakly uses events from the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as inspiration, allowing you to ride a luge-like ramp in the Skeleton, enjoy-loose use of the word there-Curling, tap and trace on the screen for Figure Skating, and ride a board in Snowboard Cross.

    iLounge | All Things iPod, iPhone, iTunes and beyond 2010

  • Here Bassett, helped by Ngurn and Balatta, weakly sat up, swaying weakly from the hips, and with clear, unfaltering, all-seeing eyes gazed upon the Red One.

    THE RED ONE 2010

  • But making an extra trip to the galley a little later, I was gladdened by the sight of Harrison staggering weakly from the rigging to the forecastle scuttle.

    Chapter 6 2010

  • Defend actual Democrats in weakly liberal or weakly conservative seats.

    Matthew Yglesias » Where The Potential Liberals Are 2009

  • Neutrinos are an example of a dark matter candidate we call a weakly interacting massive particle, or a WIMP.

    Archive 2009-01-01 x00c5;ka 2009

  • Neutrinos are an example of a dark matter candidate we call a weakly interacting massive particle, or a WIMP.

    Physics silliness x00c5;ka 2009

  • I lay in weakly case and confined to my bed for four months before I was able to rise and health returned to me.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • The observant reader will have spotted the appearance above of the expression weakly stratified.

    Quine's New Foundations Forster, Thomas 2006

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