obliquely

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English oblique

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der.

Proto-Germanic *līkąder.

Proto-Germanic *-līkaz

Proto-Germanic *-ê

Proto-Germanic *-līkê

Proto-West Germanic *-līkē

Old English -līċe

Middle English -ly

English -ly

English obliquely

From oblique + -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈbliːkli/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːkli

Adverb

obliquely (comparative more obliquely, superlative most obliquely)

1. In an oblique manner; sideways.
   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 99:

     Then, advancing obliquely towards us, came a fifth.

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 206:

     Finally I descended the hill, obliquely, towards the trees I had seen.

   • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was.

Synonyms

• sidelong

Translations

in an oblique manner; sideways

• Hungarian: ferdén (hu)
• Spanish: oblicuamente (es)