Meanings
comparative more wordly · superlative most wordly
- rareOf, relating to, or resembling a word; verbal.
But I feel an impulse to scribble wordly words, to stand in a silk hat beside the statue of Liberty and gaze out upon the Atlantic with a Carlylian pensiveness.
1921, Ben Hecht, Erik Dorn - Page 2483 more examples
"The reality of the wordly words as the word of God is not pneumatologically grounded by Calvin — neither is the church proclaimed word in virtue of its power of divine ordinance a word of God's Spirit imparted for all times, nor is it made more and more God's word through the Holy Spirit—[...]
1970, Benjamin Charles Milner, Calvin's Doctrine of the Church - Page 105For in speaking of "syntax," I have employed a concept that is used about the use of words. I have, in other words, "talked" about the nonverbal in a "wordly" way.
1993, William H. Poteat, James M. Nickell, James W. Stines, The Primacy of Persons and the Language of Culture: EssaysWe notice here a shift from 'literal' in a wordly sense (cf. the German wörtlich), pertaining to written words as such, to a descriptive sense, pertaining to how a text (or the world) is understood.
2008, Manuel Dries, Nietzsche on Time and History - Page 157
Origin
From word + -ly. Compare Dutch woordelijk, German wörtlich.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
wordly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wordly
“wordly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wordly. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wordly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wordly.
Source: wordly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.