politely

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English polite

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 politely

From polite + -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlaɪtli/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtli
• Hyphenation: po‧lite‧ly

Adverb

politely (comparative more politely, superlative most politely)

1. in a polite manner

   If pressed about a serious accusation like rape, you can politely reply that you can’t answer questions pertaining to such an allegation without legal representation and wish to remain silent.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     It was night once more and Mary had got through another day without throwing herself politely from a top floor window or scrawling filthy words on the dining room walls.

Synonyms

• civilly

Translations

in a polite manner

• Armenian: քաղաքավարի (hy) (kʻaġakʻavari), քաղաքավարիորեն (kʻaġakʻavarioren)
• Catalan: cortesament (ca)
• Czech: zdvořile (cs)
• French: poliment (fr)
• Hindi: सविनय (hi) (savinay)
• Hungarian: udvariasan (hu)
• Italian: educatamente (it)
• Latin: cōmiter
• Norman: polîment
• Polish: grzecznie (pl), kulturalnie (pl)
• Romanian: politicos (ro)
• Russian: ве́жливо (ru) (véžlivo)
• Spanish: educadamente, cortésmente (es)
• Turkish: kibarca (tr)
• Ukrainian: вві́чливо (uk) (vvíčlyvo)
• Walloon: poleymint (wa)