big-sisterly
big-sisterly adjective: of or characteristic of older sisters.
Adjective
big-sisterly (comparative more big-sisterly, superlative most big-sisterly)
- Of or characteristic of older sisters.
- Coordinate term: big-brotherly
- Some were sweet and big-sisterly, good shoulders to cry on; others eternal cheerleaders, all freckles and bobby sox; still others were serious campus leaders with their blond hair in a severe twist.1988, Edmund White, chapter 4, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994
Adverb
big-sisterly (comparative more big-sisterly, superlative most big-sisterly)
- In the manner of an older sister.
- By turns she could be goofy and serious, playful and big-sisterly stern.2015, Guy Vanderhaeghe, “Koenig & Company”, in Daddy Lenin and Other Stories, McClelland & Stewart
Forms of big-sisterly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more big-sisterly |
| superlative | most big-sisterly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more big-sisterly |
| superlative | most big-sisterly |
Origin of big-sisterly
From big sister + -ly (adjectival suffix).
From big sister + -ly (adverbial suffix).
Words formed from big-sisterly
- big-sisterliness
Questions about big-sisterly
- What does big-sisterly mean?
- Big-sisterly means of or characteristic of older sisters.
- What part of speech is big-sisterly?
- Big-sisterly can be an adjective or an adverb.
Words near big-sisterly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: big-sisterly (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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Cite this entry: “big-sisterly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/big-sisterly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.