Word.ws English Dictionary

balefully

balefully adverb: in a baleful, ominous manner.

Adverb

balefully (comparative more balefully, superlative most balefully)

  1. In a baleful, ominous manner.
    • The toad stared balefully at his reflection and puffed himself up to show that he wasn't really frightened.1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 22

Forms of balefully

comparativemore balefully
superlativemost balefully

Origin of balefully

From Middle English balfulli; equivalent to baleful + -ly.

Questions about balefully

What does balefully mean?
Balefully means in a baleful, ominous manner.
What part of speech is balefully?
Balefully is an adverb.

Words near balefully in the dictionary

  1. balefires
  2. baleful
  3. balefulest
  4. balefull
  5. balefullest
  6. balefully
  7. balefulness
  8. balei
  9. baleless
  10. Balenciaga
  11. balenine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: balefully (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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