lawyerly
lawyerly adjective: characteristic of, or suitable to, a lawyer.
Adjective
lawyerly (comparative more lawyerly, superlative most lawyerly)
- Characteristic of, or suitable to, a lawyer.
- She rewrote the letter to make it sound more lawyerly.
- Norton had made a neat, lawyerly check beside each of the items he and Billy had picked up—half a dozen or so, including the milk and a six-pack of Coke.1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press
Adverb
lawyerly (comparative more lawyerly, superlative most lawyerly)
- In the manner of a lawyer.
- > And, in fact, there are legal limits to this alleged "right" of
> possession as well, ones that have been upheld by the courts.
Truly lawyerly said. Strange how the courts can uphold laws as "consitutional" that clearly contravene Constitutional clauses or ammendments.^([sic]) Judicial "activism"...1999 May 6, Niles K. (Nik) Mouser, “Danger with guns”, in alt.politics.libertarian (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Nov 2025 - “I’m not really even sure, I mean I don’t know. We'll figure it out, okay?” This statement melded into a question delivered half at Cameron and half at Cameron’s lawyer. Everett, very lawyerly, said nothing. Cameron, however, shook his head vigorously.2008 November 1, William Pepper, “December 26”, in In the St. Nick of Time, [United States]: Carnival of Glee Creations, →ISBN, page 326
- > And, in fact, there are legal limits to this alleged "right" of
Examples of lawyerly in a sentence
- “Could be another Blanche Smith,” she said, lawyerly.2010, David Champion, chapter 34, in Bomber Bombs: The Ninth Bomber Hanson Mystery, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Allen A. Knoll, Publishers...
- I don’t want him held accountable for something he may say while under the adverse effects of narcotics.’[’] I said lawyerly.2012, daniel storm, chapter 14, in Not Afraid to Kill-Not Afraid to Die, Elm Grove, Wis.: William J. Pulkinen & Associates, →ISBN:
Forms of lawyerly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more lawyerly |
| superlative | most lawyerly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more lawyerly |
| superlative | most lawyerly |
Origin of lawyerly
From lawyer + -ly (adjectival suffix).
From lawyer + -ly (adverbial suffix), after the adjective.
Words formed from lawyerly
Questions about lawyerly
- What does lawyerly mean?
- Lawyerly means characteristic of, or suitable to, a lawyer.
- How do you use lawyerly in a sentence?
- “Could be another Blanche Smith,” she said, lawyerly.
- What part of speech is lawyerly?
- Lawyerly can be an adjective or an adverb.
Words near lawyerly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lawyerly (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: “lawyerly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lawyerly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.