dumbly

English

Etymology

From dumb + -ly.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdʌmli/

Adverb

dumbly (comparative more dumbly, superlative most dumbly)

  1. mutely; silently
    • 1907, Barbara Baynton, Sally Krimmer; Alan Lawson, editors, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 147:
      On the flat behind the mill, dawn-rising Chinamen shogged with nimble bare feet under their yoke-linked watering-cans. These busy brethren, meeting sometimes on the same narrow track, would pause, ant-like, seemingly to dumbly regard one another and their burdens, then, still ant-like, pass silently to their work.
    • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 32:
      I handed it dumbly to my friend, who had the grace to giggle.
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