shrilly

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪli

Etymology 1

shrill +‎ -ly

Adverb

shrilly (comparative more shrilly, superlative most shrilly)

1. In a shrill manner.
   • 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 96:

     [T]he thwarted Hawk circled above, calling shrilly.

Etymology 2

shrill +‎ -y

Adjective

shrilly (comparative more shrilly, superlative most shrilly)

1. Somewhat shrill.
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

     The night—its silence—its rest, was rent in twain by a savage, a sharp, a shrilly sound that ran from end to end of Thornfield Hall.

   • 1860, Robert Stafford, Enoch, a Poem in Three Books

     Yet there they sat, as stones, silent and still. / Sudden a voice, a feeble shrilly voice, / Rose from the inner tent […]