tonguely

Syllables: tongue·ly/ˈtʌŋli/

tonguely adjective: of or pertaining to the tongue; lingual.

Image: Rachel329, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

tonguely (not comparable)

(informal, rare) Of or pertaining to the tongue; lingual.
- [A] meadow / in his own right, all inwardly afire, ten / thousand tonguely shadings painting him / angelic warden of the face of earth.1973, The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought, volume XV, Pittsburgh, Kan.: Kansas State College of Pittsburg, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 374
- However simple this basic recipe for tonguely delight seems, many men mess it up in gender-specific ways.1998, H. Lloyd Goodall, Food Talk: A Man’s Guide to Cooking and Conversation with Women, Greensboro, N.C.: Snowgoose Cove Pub., →ISBN, page 91
(informal, rare) Pertaining or relating to languages; lingual, linguistic.
- Women are proverbial for tonguely gifts, and orators do not require very great depth. Like the belle with her chit-chat, it is the tone and manner which do execution.1847 May, Fanny Forester [pseudonym; Emily Chubbuck], “A Dream”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XXX, number 5, Philadelphia, Pa....
- Only the silence of the spirit in which Thou is addressed can liberate Thou, as [Martin] Buber says, out of the "pre-tonguely," pre-speech-formed It-world.[1974, Werner Manheim, “The Dialogical Principle”, in Martin Buber (Twayne’s World Authors Series, Germany; TWAS 269), New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, →ISBN, page 31

tonguely (not comparable)

(informal, nonstandard, rare) In terms of or with the tongue; lingually.
- How can such a head not tempt him tonguely? And so he tastes it; […]2006, Shawn Postoff, “Sir Richard Wadd, Pornographer”, in Sky Gilbert, editor, Perfectly Abnormal: Seven Gay Plays, Toronto, Ont.: Playwrights Canada Press, →ISBN, page 132
- "How's it going Harold?", gravelled masculinely from a few tables away. "Yeah, not bad mate", as my rested pen raises brows that in turn tonguely prime lips for conversing.2011, Eddie Horton, Just Compass, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, page 173

A tonguely examination of her dental work.2003, Elizabeth George, “I, Richard”, in I, Richard, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 196:
Language must be further defined through language, more tonguely flexing, more mobilized spittle, more swirls of ink.2016, Esther Leslie, “Meltwater”, in Liquid Crystals: The Science and Art of a Fluid Form, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 189:
"Few men share this man's tonguely talent for languages!" auctioned Qaddafi [i.e., Muammar Gaddafi] in a speech of praise to your father when he was delegated Libya's official photo prize recently.2011, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles, Montecore: The Silence of the Tiger (A Borzoi Book), 1st American...

From tongue + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense “appearing like or resembling [what is denoted by the noun]”).

From tongue + -ly (suffix forming adverbs from adjectives and nouns).

What does tonguely mean?: Tonguely means of or pertaining to the tongue; lingual.
How do you use tonguely in a sentence?: A tonguely examination of her dental work.
What part of speech is tonguely?: Tonguely can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce tonguely?: Tonguely is pronounced /ˈtʌŋli/ (UK).

Adapted from Wiktionary: tonguely (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tonguely.wav, En-us-tonguely.oga.

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