Meanings
comparative more hearably · superlative most hearably
- especiallyformalhuman sciencesAudibly, auditorily; discernable through hearing.
By contrast, in (50), a hearably complete answer to a question that could have been referring to a similar information gap is continuation-receipted.
1984, John Heritage, “A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement”, in J. Maxwell Atkinson, John Heritage, editors, Structures of Social Action, New York: Cambridge University Press2 more examples
On high sat the President imploring order, with his long hands put together as in prayer, and his lips visibly but not hearably speaking. At intervals he grasped his bell and swung it up and down with vigor, adding its keen clamor to the storm weltering there below.
1898 March 29, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Stirring Times in Austria”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XCVI, number DLXXIV, New York: Harper and Brothers, page 534Case studies of three problematic NNS/NS calls from a collection of emergency service calls were conducted using a conversation analytic approach. These calls were selected from publicly available recordings which were made by callers who were hearably NNS of English.
2022 April 18, Angela Cora Garcia, “Interactional challenges for non-native speakers of English in emergency telephone calls”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 193, Elsevier, →DOI, pages 222–234
Origin
From hearable + -ly (adverbial suffix).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hearably. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hearably
“hearably.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hearably. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hearably,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hearably.
Source: hearably on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.