Word.ws English Dictionary

brawly

/ˈbɹɔːli/

brawly adjective: having or characterised by brawls.

Adjective

brawly (comparative more brawly, superlative most brawly)

  1. Having or characterised by brawls.
    • Although it is not a boisterous or brawly bar, there is a constant flow of noises from the television, the jukebox, the pool table, pinball machine, and telephone.1974, James Michael Brady, Bookmaking: The Sociology of an Illegal Occupation, page 70
    • The sudden, brawly shock of a dog fight, the primitive wailing, the guttural intimidations, the unpredictable lunges and slashes that can kill your dog or brand him a killer — all of it impels people to add human yells to the noisy chaos.2003, Susan Conant, Dead and Doggone, page 6

Adverb

brawly (comparative more brawly, superlative most brawly)

  1. (Scotland) Finely, handsomely.
    • “And how is yourself, Cluny?” said Alan. “I hope ye do brawly, sir. And I am proud to see ye, and to present to ye my friend the Laird of Shaws, Mr. David Balfour.”1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC
    • He was good to look on, brawly dressed, and with a tongue in his head that would have wiled the bird from the tree.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

Forms of brawly

Adjective
comparativemore brawly
superlativemost brawly
Adverb
comparativemore brawly
superlativemost brawly

Origin of brawly

From brawl + -y.

Words formed from brawly

  • brawliness

Questions about brawly

What does brawly mean?
Brawly means having or characterised by brawls.
What part of speech is brawly?
Brawly can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce brawly?
Brawly is pronounced /ˈbɹɔːli/.

Words near brawly in the dictionary

  1. brawling
  2. brawlingly
  3. brawlings
  4. brawls
  5. brawlsome
  6. brawly
  7. brawn
  8. brawned
  9. brawner
  10. brawners
  11. brawnier

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brawly (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: “brawly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brawly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.