Word.ws English Dictionary

proverbially

proverbially adverb: in a manner that uses proverbs; in or according to proverbs.

Adverb

proverbially (comparative more proverbially, superlative most proverbially)

  1. In a manner that uses proverbs; in or according to proverbs.
    • The bee is a proverbially busy creature.
    • “Unless I am gravely in error you are yourself a very brave man, and brave men are proverbially magnanimous.”1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 33
  2. In a manner reminiscent of a proverb.

Forms of proverbially

comparativemore proverbially
superlativemost proverbially

Origin of proverbially

From proverbial + -ly.

Questions about proverbially

What does proverbially mean?
Proverbially means in a manner that uses proverbs; in or according to proverbs.
What part of speech is proverbially?
Proverbially is an adverb.

Words near proverbially in the dictionary

  1. proverbiality
  2. proverbialize
  3. proverbialized
  4. proverbializes
  5. proverbializing
  6. proverbially
  7. proverbialness
  8. proverbials
  9. proverbic
  10. proverbing
  11. proverbiologist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: proverbially (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:

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