abjectly

English

WOTD – 25 May 2010

Etymology

abject +‎ -ly. From Middle English.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /abˈd͡ʒɛkt.li/, /ˈab.d͡ʒɛkt.li/
(US) IPA^(key): /æbˈd͡ʒɛkt.li/, /æbˈd͡ʒɛk.li/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)

Adverb

abjectly (comparative more abjectly, superlative most abjectly)

With great shame, desperately; in an abject fashion. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
I abjectly apologise for the damage I have done.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
  So, deprived of one leg, and the strange ship of course being altogether unsupplied with the kindly invention, Ahab now found himself abjectly reduced to a clumsy landsman again;

Antonyms

(somewhat) proudly

Related terms

Translations

with great shame, desperately; in an abject fashion

Catalan: abjectament (ca)
Dutch: opgemene wijze, op verachterlijke wijze
French: abjectement (fr)
Interlingua: abjectemente

Portuguese: abjetamente (pt)
Russian: смире́нно (ru) (smirénno)
Spanish: abyectamente

References

“abjectly” in Lesley Brown, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.

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