Word.ws English Dictionary

stertorously

/ˈstəː.təɹ.əs.li/US/ˈstɝ.tɚ.əs.li/

stertorously adverb: with heavy breathing, as if snoring; in a stertorous manner.

Adverb

stertorously (comparative more stertorously, superlative most stertorously)

  1. With heavy breathing, as if snoring; in a stertorous manner.
    • The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that he had suffered some terrible injury.1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC
    • Mr Lumby said, "Oh well, now the doctor's here you don't want me', and lumbered off, glad to get back to bed. Rita said, "She's in here, doctor', and led the way to the foot of the stairs where Mrs Dibble lay breathing stertorously under the dim shop light, still an abhorrent spectacle to Sadie...1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 26

Examples of stertorously in a sentence

  • He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat.1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of Mind:
  • He was breathing stertorously, his throat and chest juddering like those of an asthmatic.2000, Mark Gatiss, chapter 20, in Last of the Gaderene:

Forms of stertorously

comparativemore stertorously
superlativemost stertorously

Origin of stertorously

From stertorous + -ly.

Questions about stertorously

What does stertorously mean?
Stertorously means with heavy breathing, as if snoring; in a stertorous manner.
How do you use stertorously in a sentence?
He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat.
What part of speech is stertorously?
Stertorously is an adverb.
How do you pronounce stertorously?
Stertorously is pronounced /ˈstəː.təɹ.əs.li/ (UK).

Words near stertorously in the dictionary

  1. Stert
  2. stertor
  3. stertorious
  4. stertoriously
  5. stertorous
  6. stertorously
  7. stertorousness
  8. stertors
  9. sterve
  10. sterved
  11. sterves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stertorously (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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