loathly
loathly adjective: loathsome; hideous.
Adjective
loathly (comparative loathlier, superlative loathliest)
- Loathsome; hideous.
- Her loathly viſage viewing with diſdaine, / Eftſoones I thought her ſuch, as ſhe me told, / And would haue kild her; but with faigned paine, / The falſe witch did my wrathfull hand with-hold; / So left her, where ſhe now is turnd to treen mould.1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Volume 1
- Pro. Then, as my gueſt, and thine owne acquiſition / Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter : But / If thou do'ſt breake her Virgin-knot, before / All ſanctimonious ceremonies may / With full and holy right, be miniſtred, / No ſweet aſperſion ſhall the heauens let fall / To make this contract grow...1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
Adverb
loathly (comparative loathlier, superlative loathliest)
- In a loathsome manner; disgustingly.
- Unwillingly; reluctantly.
Examples of loathly in a sentence
- And Merlin answered, 'Overquick art thou / To catch a loathly plume fallen from the wing / Of that foul bird of rapine whose whole prey / Is man's good name: he never wronged his bride.1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King:
- This unremitting insistence on his color, this continual shunting him into obscure and filthy ways, gradually gave Peter a loathly sensation.1922, T.S. Stribling, Birthright:
Forms of loathly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | loathlier |
| superlative | loathliest |
| alternative form | lothly |
| alternative form (dialectal) | laithly |
| alternative form (dialectal) | laidly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | loathlier |
| superlative | loathliest |
Origin of loathly
From Middle English lothli, loothly, from Old English lāþlīċ (“loathly, hateful, horrible, repulsive, unpleasant”); equivalent to loath + -ly.
From Middle English *lothli, loothly, from Old English lāþlīċe (“hatefully”), from lāþlīċ + -e (adverbial suffix); equivalent to loath + -ly.
Words formed from loathly
Questions about loathly
- What does loathly mean?
- Loathly means loathsome; hideous.
- How do you use loathly in a sentence?
- And Merlin answered, 'Overquick art thou / To catch a loathly plume fallen from the wing / Of that foul bird of rapine whose whole prey / Is man's good name: he never wronged his bride.
- What part of speech is loathly?
- Loathly can be an adjective or an adverb.
Words near loathly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: loathly (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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