dumbly

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English dumb

English -ly

English dumbly

From dumb + -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌmli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmli

Adverb

dumbly (comparative more dumbly, superlative most dumbly)

1. In a silent way.

   Synonym: silently

   • 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 147:

     On the flat behind the mill, dawn-rising Chinamen shogged with nimble bare feet under their yoke-linked watering-cans. These busy brethren, meeting sometimes on the same narrow track, would pause, ant-like, seemingly to dumbly regard one another and their burdens, then, still ant-like, pass silently to their work.

   • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 32:

     I handed it dumbly to my friend, who had the grace to giggle.

   • 1991, Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 156:

     We both stared at it dumbly, wondering why she had done such a thing, when suddenly something remarkable began to happen.

2. (informal, derogatory) In an unsmart way.

Translations

in a silent way — see silently