Word.ws English Dictionary

gayly

/ˈɡeɪli/

gayly adverb: cheerfully; in a gay manner.

Adverb

gayly (comparative more gayly, superlative most gayly)

  1. (dated, uncommon) Cheerfully; in a gay manner.
    • Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow.1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and...
    • He was much over-dressed, in a gaudy vest of many colors, a blue neckerchief, bedropped gayly with yellow spots, and arranged with a flaunting tie, quite in keeping with the general air of the man.1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 1, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor &...

Examples of gayly in a sentence

  • In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page 266:
  • Gayly-dressed mavournins and blaring bands stepped lively along Fifth Avenue.1958, Printers' Ink, volume 262, page 28:

Synonyms of gayly

7 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of gayly

comparativemore gayly
superlativemost gayly

Origin of gayly

From gay + -ly.

Words that rhyme with gayly

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gayly

What does gayly mean?
Gayly means cheerfully; in a gay manner.
How do you use gayly in a sentence?
In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
What part of speech is gayly?
Gayly is an adverb.
How do you pronounce gayly?
Gayly is pronounced /ˈɡeɪli/.

Words near gayly in the dictionary

  1. gaylords
  2. Gaylordsville
  3. Gaylorism
  4. Gaylors
  5. gaylussite
  6. gayly
  7. gayman
  8. Gaymans
  9. gaymen
  10. gayment
  11. gaymer

Source and license

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