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gaily. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
gaily, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
gaily in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
gaily you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From gay + -ly.
Pronunciation
Adverb
gaily (comparative more gaily, superlative most gaily)
- (dated) Merrily.
- (dated) Showily.
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.
Usage notes
- Gaily is not attested in reference to the "homosexual man" definition of the word's adjective form, gay, for which gayly is a rare but attested usage. Despite this, the adverb gaily has largely fallen out of use due to this semantic shift of the adjective gay.
Translations