lifely

lifely adjective: of, pertaining to, or endued with life; living; vital; essential.

Adjective

lifely (comparative more lifely, superlative most lifely)

Of, pertaining to, or endued with life; living; vital; essential.
- But since there is no other universal language of grammar, a middle course can be taken, and the English grammar may be taught according to a more lifely classification, and in a more lifely language; […]1836, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Method of Spiritual Culture
- Every breathsome being is lifely, Every man is a breathsome being, Every man is lifely.1887, Leader Scott, The Life of William Barnes: Poet and Philologist

lifely (comparative more lifely, superlative most lifely)

(archaic) In a lifelike manner.
- Unslain fro thee, which ay us lifely herteth, With books of his ornat enditing That is to all this land enlumining.1826, George Lewis Smyth, The monuments and genii of st. Paul's cathedral and of Westminster abbey

Try to find out what colours make you look more lifely and more healthy.2012, Anna Sophia Karin Wettig, Facelifting Without Surgery:
“Apparently, when everyone reluctantly explained their various lifely circumstances, you made no comments whatsoever.2013, Davina Worton, Someday:

From Middle English lifly, lyfly, lyflich, from Old English līflīċ (“living; vital”), equivalent to life + -ly. Doublet of lively and lifelike.

Compare English lively.

What does lifely mean?: Lifely means of, pertaining to, or endued with life; living; vital; essential.
How do you use lifely in a sentence?: Try to find out what colours make you look more lifely and more healthy.
What part of speech is lifely?: Lifely can be an adjective or an adverb.

Adapted from Wiktionary: lifely (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: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “lifely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lifely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.