poorly
UK/ˈpʊə.li//ˈpʊɹ.li/
poorly adverb: in a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.
Adverb
poorly (comparative more poorly or (rare) poorlier, superlative most poorly or (rare) poorliest)
- In a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.
- to live poorly
- He uses his employees poorly.
- With little or no success; indifferently; with little profit or advantage.
- to do poorly in business
- “The Budget proposes eliminating Supporting Effective Instruction (SEI) State Grants (Title II State grants), a program that provides formula funds to States to improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other schools leaders. SEI grants are poorly targeted and funds are...2017 May 23, Gregory Krieg and Will Mullery, “Trump’s budget by the numbers: What gets cut and why”, in CNN
- Meanly; without spirit.
- Nor is their courage or their wealth so low, / That from his wars they poorly would retire.1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)
- Without skill or merit.
- He plays tennis poorly.
- In a negative manner; with disapproval; unfavorably.
- I think poorly of them.
- She looked poorly on that suggestion.
Adjective
poorly (comparative poorlier or more poorly, superlative poorliest or most poorly)
poorly meaning in Telugu and Malayalam
poorly in Telugu
- పేలవంగా
poorly in Malayalam
- സാമർത്ഥ്യമില്ലാതെ, ദരിദ്രമായി, നിഷ്ഫലമായി, അപര്യാപ്തമായി
Examples of poorly in a sentence
- SEI grants are poorly targeted and funds are spread too thinly to have a meaningful impact on student outcomes.2017 May 23, Gregory Krieg and Will Mullery, “Trump’s budget by the numbers: What gets cut and why”, in CNN:
- We talk about Kim, who is very poorly now.2008, Carla van Raay, “The Passing of a Friend”, in The Price of Passion, London: Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 241:
- "[…] they'd have the two poorly babies to care for as well."2007, Connie Anderson, The House in Cedar Avenue, page 281:
Forms of poorly
| Adverb | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more poorly |
| superlative | most poorly |
| comparative (rare) | poorlier |
| superlative (rare) | poorliest |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | poorlier |
| comparative | more poorly |
| superlative | poorliest |
| superlative | most poorly |
Origin of poorly
From Middle English poorly, pouerly, poreliche, poureliche, pouerliche, equivalent to poor + -ly.
From poor + -ly.
Words formed from poorly
Words that rhyme with poorly
Questions about poorly
- What does poorly mean?
- Poorly means in a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.
- What is poorly in Telugu?
- Poorly in Telugu is పేలవంగా. See Poorly meaning in Telugu.
- How do you use poorly in a sentence?
- SEI grants are poorly targeted and funds are spread too thinly to have a meaningful impact on student outcomes.
- What part of speech is poorly?
- Poorly can be an adverb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce poorly?
- Poorly is pronounced /ˈpʊə.li/ (UK).
Words near poorly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: poorly (page history and authors); poorly (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); poorly (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-poorly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “poorly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poorly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.