Meanings
comparative more meaningly · superlative most meaningly
- With an implied meaning; with significance; meaningfully.
Fascinated, she stood shaken ungovernably by its horrible suggestiveness, while above and about her the trees shivered meaningly.
1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 2861 more example
Ada opened the album at one of its maroon markers meaningly inserted here and there, glanced once, reclicked the clasp, handed the grinning blackmailer a thousand-dollar note that she happened to have in her bag, summoned Bouteillan and told him to throw Kim out.
1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 309
Origin
- Middle Englishmeningli
- Englishmeaningly
From Middle English meningli, menyngli, equivalent to meaning + -ly.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
meaningly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meaningly
“meaningly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meaningly. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meaningly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meaningly.
Source: meaningly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.