lowly
UK/ˈləʊli//ˈloʊli/
lowly adjective: not high; not elevated in place; low.
Adjective
lowly (comparative lowlier, superlative lowliest)
- Not high; not elevated in place; low.
- And those whom Tiber's holy forests hide,
Or Circe's hills from the main land divide;
Where Ufens glides along the lowly lands,
Or the black water of Pomptina stands.1697, John Dryden, translating Virgil, Aeneid^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aeneid_(Dryden)) - And I watched you waltz from tree to tree
As I slunk in my lowly lair1918, C. J. Dennis, The Chase of Ages
- And those whom Tiber's holy forests hide,
- Low in rank or social importance.
- One common right the great and lowly claims.1725, Alexander Pope, translating Homer, Odyssey^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Odyssey_(Pope)/Book_VIII)
- Not lofty or sublime; humble.
- Where our apt used to be they built a fancy condominium high-rise.
Which at a lowly income none of us could ever really quite afford.2010, David Dondero, Just a Baby in Your Momma's Eyes - For all who read, and reading, not disdain / These rural poems, and their lowly strain1697, John Dryden, Pastoral VI
- Where our apt used to be they built a fancy condominium high-rise.
- Having a low esteem of one's own worth; humble; meek; free from pride.
- Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew xi:29
- Synonyms:
- demure, modest, unpretentious, abased, diffident, humble, humble-hearted, low, meek, mild
Adverb
lowly (comparative more lowly, superlative most lowly)
- In a low manner; humbly; meekly; modestly.
- Walking through the park, it wasn't quite dark / There was a man sitting on a bench / Out of the crowd as his head lowly bowed1963, Curtis Mayfield, “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um”, performed by Major Lance
- In a low condition; meanly.
- At low pitch or volume.
- These words were lowly and sweetly murmured in the same way with the word mother, being changefully varied in their modulations, […]1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities
lowly meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
lowly in Urdu
- عاجز, فروتن, محجوب
lowly in Bengali
- lowly; quietly
- আস্তে aste
lowly in Malayalam
- low, humble, low-born
- വിനീതനായ, ഒതുക്കമുള്ള, പെരുമാറ്റത്തിലും മറ്റും വിനയാന്വിതനായ, സമൂഹത്തിന്റെ കീഴ്ത്തട്ടിലുള്ള, അധസ്ഥ, കുലഹീന
lowly in Kannada
- a lowly, vile, man
- ಪಾಮರ pāmara
- lowly, dirty, crude
- ಹೀನ hīna
More languagesFewer languages
- lowly in Sanskrit
- पामर pāmara
Examples of lowly in a sentence
- Despite their lowly status, all city pigeons come from domestic pigeons, which were once popular as both pets and as messengers.
- Doubtless it would include filthy rusalki and bagiennik, and lowly peasant magic.
- Yesterday’s lowly charwomen mopped floors, as do today’s cleaning ladies, janitors and minimum-wagers at McDonald’s.
Synonyms of lowly
10 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of lowly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | lowlier |
| superlative | lowliest |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more lowly |
| superlative | most lowly |
Origin of lowly
From low + -ly; compare Middle English lowly.
Words formed from lowly
Words that rhyme with lowly
12 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about lowly
- What does lowly mean?
- Lowly means not high; not elevated in place; low.
- What is lowly in Urdu?
- Lowly in Urdu is عاجز, فروتن, محجوب. See Lowly meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is lowly?
- Lowly can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce lowly?
- Lowly is pronounced /ˈləʊli/ (UK).
Words near lowly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lowly (page history and authors); lowly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); আস্তে (Bengali) (page history and authors); lowly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ಪಾಮರ (Kannada) (page history and authors); पामर (Sanskrit) (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-lowly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lowly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lowly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.