pleasantly

English

Alternative forms

• pleasauntlie, plesantlie, pleasauntly, plesantly, plesauntly (all obsolete)

Etymology

pleasant +‎ -ly

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplɛzəntli/
• Hyphenation: pleas‧ant‧ly

Adverb

pleasantly (comparative more pleasantly, superlative most pleasantly)

1. In a pleasant manner; so as to achieve a pleasant result.

   He smiled pleasantly at passersby.

   They were pleasantly surprised at the result.

2. (degree) Lightly
3. (obsolete) Ludicrously.
   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, ch. 1, Midas

     In workhouses, pleasantly so named, because work cannot be done in them.

Translations

in a pleasant manner

• Catalan: agradablement (ca)
• Esperanto: agrable
• French: agréablement (fr)
• Hungarian: kellemesen (hu)

• Italian: dilettosamente (it)
• Latin: amoenē
• Polish: miło (pl)
• Spanish: agradablemente (es)

References

• Webster, Noah (1828), “pleasantly”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language