deathly
/ˈdɛθli/
deathly adjective: appearing as though dead, or on the verge of death.
Adjective
deathly (comparative deathlier or more deathly, superlative deathliest or most deathly)
- Appearing as though dead, or on the verge of death.
- He has a deathly pallor.
- I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deathly languor and coldness of the limbs told me, that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding...
- Deadly, fatal, causing death.
- Extreme.
- He has a deathly fear of crocodiles.
Adverb
deathly (comparative more deathly, superlative most deathly)
- In a way that resembles death.
- He was deathly pale.
- Extremely, dreadfully.
- The water was deathly cold.
- He was deathly afraid of crocodiles.
deathly meaning in Malayalam
deathly in Malayalam
- deadly, deathlike, ghostly
- മരിച്ചതുപോലുള്ള, മരണതുല്യമായ, മൃത്യുസദൃശമായ, വിളറിയ, ചോരയില്ലാത്ത, കരാള
- fatal, deadly, lethal
- മാരകമായ, മരണഹേതുകമായ, മരണകരമായ, നാശകരമായ, കാലകല്പ, കൊലപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന
Examples of deathly in a sentence
- I'm livid; a deathly pale light floods my face and I emanate a different smell.
- It is deathly, and resurrectingly, serious, yet it is not God, but only one of God’s angels.
- Amidst a world whistling Not with summery wind But radiating a springful Of deathly atoms.
Forms of deathly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | deathlier |
| comparative | more deathly |
| superlative | deathliest |
| superlative | most deathly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more deathly |
| superlative | most deathly |
Origin of deathly
From Middle English dethlich, from Old English dēaþlīċ, equivalent to death + -ly.
Words formed from deathly
Questions about deathly
- What does deathly mean?
- Deathly means appearing as though dead, or on the verge of death.
- What is deathly in Malayalam?
- Deathly in Malayalam is മരിച്ചതുപോലുള്ള, മരണതുല്യമായ, മൃത്യുസദൃശമായ. See Deathly meaning in Malayalam.
- What part of speech is deathly?
- Deathly can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce deathly?
- Deathly is pronounced /ˈdɛθli/ (UK).
Words near deathly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deathly (page history and authors); deathly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-deathly.wav.
Cite this entry: “deathly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deathly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.