smatteringly

English

Etymology

smattering +‎ -ly

Adverb

smatteringly (comparative more smatteringly, superlative most smatteringly)

1. In or by fragments; superficially.
   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 73:

     [W]e task ourselves / To learn a language known but smatteringly / In phrases here and there at random, [...]