goodly
Syllables: good·ly/ˈɡʊdli/
goodly adjective: good; pleasing in appearance; attractive; comely; graceful; pleasant; desirable.
Adjective
goodly (comparative goodlier, superlative goodliest)
- Good; pleasing in appearance; attractive; comely; graceful; pleasant; desirable.
- Her goodly thighs, whoſe glory did appear, / Like a triumphal Arch,[…]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- The diuell can cite Scripture for his purpoſe, / An euill ſoule producing holy witneſſe, / Is like a villaine with a ſmiling cheeke, / A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O what a goodly outſide falſehood hath.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Quite large; considerable; sufficient; adequate; more than enough.
- a goodly sum of money
- walking at a goodly pace
Adverb
goodly (comparative goodlier, superlative goodliest)
- In a goodly way; courteously, graciously.
- Thenne he sente for the thre knyghtes & they came afore hym / and he cryed hem mercy of that he had done to them / and they forgaf hit hym goodely and he dyed anone1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII
- Goodly she entertaind those noble knights, / And brought them vp into her castle hall […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Well; excellently.
- For love of vertue and of martial praise;
To which though nobly ye inclined are,
(As goodlie well ye shew'd in late assaies)a. 1599, Edmund Spenser, To the Earle of Cumberland - I know doin' marriage is tough and hard to pull off for a long time, but from what I has been led to believe, you two was doin' it quite goodly. As goodly as a huntin' shootin' fishin' filmin' drinkin' Englishy can do with a gyratin' pumpin' singin' lookin' wearinv Yankee-doodle icon. It was...2011, Dawn French, Dear Fatty
- For love of vertue and of martial praise;
goodly meaning in Urdu and Malayalam
goodly in Urdu
- دلکش, حسین, بہ مہربانی
goodly in Malayalam
- മനോജ്ഞമായ, രമണീയമായ, കാരുണ്യപൂർവ്വം, ദയാപൂർവ്വം
Examples of goodly in a sentence
- I am glad I brought a goodly supply of needlework with me.2014, Lael R. Neill, Sand Island Diaries:
- Returning day-trippers make up a goodly number, along with young people heading for a night out in Bristol, which is where I change once again.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:
- I know doin' marriage is tough and hard to pull off for a long time, but from what I has been led to believe, you two was doin' it quite goodly.2011, Dawn French, Dear Fatty:
Forms of goodly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | goodlier |
| superlative | goodliest |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | goodlier |
| superlative | goodliest |
Origin of goodly
From Middle English goodly, goodlich, gōdlich, from Old English gōdlīċ (“good, goodly”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōdalīk, from Proto-Germanic *gōdalīkaz (“good, goodly”); equivalent to good + -ly. Cognate with Dutch goedelijk, goelijk (“harmless, benign”), German gütlich (“friendly”), Icelandic góðlegur (“benign”).
From Middle English goodly, goodliche, gōdliche, from Old English gōdlīċe (“goodly”), from the adjective; equivalent to good + -ly. Cognate with Middle High German guotlīche, güetlīche.
Words formed from goodly
Questions about goodly
- What does goodly mean?
- Goodly means good; pleasing in appearance; attractive; comely; graceful; pleasant; desirable.
- What is goodly in Urdu?
- Goodly in Urdu is دلکش, حسین, بہ مہربانی. See Goodly meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use goodly in a sentence?
- I am glad I brought a goodly supply of needlework with me.
- What part of speech is goodly?
- Goodly can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce goodly?
- Goodly is pronounced /ˈɡʊdli/.
Words near goodly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: goodly (page history and authors); goodly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); goodly (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-goodly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “goodly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/goodly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.