Word.ws English Dictionary

-istically

/ˈɪ.stɪk.li/

-istically suffix: used to form adverbs describing action in the manner of the root adjective; use is identical irrespective of whether the root adjective ends with -istic or -istical.

Suffix

-istically

  1. Used to form adverbs describing action in the manner of the root adjective; use is identical irrespective of whether the root adjective ends with -istic or -istical.
    • “It goes without saying,” said McFee, the filled-up philosopher, funistically inclined, “that aside from baseball players and ice men, the professional prophet for profit makes more of it than any other man”.1916, Artemes Ward Utting, The Judge, page 377
    • Horns, trumpets, and trombones, both soloistically and sectionally, became central to the orchestral concept... His highly subtle orchestration elevates woodwinds, more often scored soloistically than sectionally.2003, Don Michael Randel, The Harvard Dictionary of Music, page 598

Origin of -istically

Alternately -istical (“adjective suffix”) + -ly (“adverb suffix”) or -istic (“adjective suffix”) + -ally (“adverb suffix”). In either case, ultimately -ist + -ic + -al + -ly.

Words formed from -istically

Questions about -istically

What does -istically mean?
-istically means used to form adverbs describing action in the manner of the root adjective; use is identical irrespective of whether the root adjective ends with -istic or -istical.
What part of speech is -istically?
-istically is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -istically?
-istically is pronounced /ˈɪ.stɪk.li/.

Words near -istically in the dictionary

  1. -ist
  2. -ista
  3. -istan
  4. -istic
  5. -istical
  6. -istically
  7. -istics
  8. -ists
  9. -isy
  10. -itan
  11. -itate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -istically (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--istically.wav.

Cite this entry: “-istically.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-istically. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.