Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#ABJECTLYCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#ABJECTLY abjectli (“with great humility”),^[1] from abject (“outcast, rejected; wretched; humble, lowly; of poor quality, worthless; menial”)^[2] + -li (suffix forming adverbs);^[3] analysable as abject +‎ -lyCategory:English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial)#ABJECTLY.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /æbˈd͡ʒɛktli/, /ˈæbd͡ʒɛktli/Category:English 3-syllable words#ABJECTLYCategory:English 3-syllable words#ABJECTLYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ABJECTLY
• (General American) IPA^(key): /æbˈd͡ʒɛktli/, /-ˈd͡ʒɛkli/Category:English 3-syllable words#ABJECTLYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ABJECTLY

• Audio (General American):

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  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ABJECTLY

• Audio (Canada):

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  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ABJECTLY

• Audio (General Australian):

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  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ABJECTLY
• Hyphenation: ab‧ject‧ly

Adverb

abjectly (comparative more abjectly, superlative most abjectly)Category:English lemmas#ABJECTLYCategory:English adverbs#ABJECTLYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ABJECTLYCategory:Pages with entries#ABJECTLYCategory:Pages with 1 entry#ABJECTLY

1. In an abject fashion; with great shame; desperately. [first attested c. 1350–1470]

   Antonym: (somewhat) proudly

   I abjectly apologise for the damage I have done.Category:English terms with usage examples#ABJECTLY

   • 1806, Thoughts on Deceit, Margate, Kent: Printed by J. Warren, […], →OCLC, pages 15–16:

     A deceitful man is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He will appear innocent, cheerful, polite, attentive, kind, obliging, and abjectly condescending; but let him once get you into his power and he becomes more ferocious, more cruel, and more destructive than the most savage animals that ever trod in deserts uninhabited by rational beings.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ABJECTLY

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Leg and Arm. The Pequod, of Nantucket, Meets the Samuel Enderby, of London.”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 486:

     So, deprived of one leg, and the strange ship of course being altogether unsupplied with the kindly invention, Ahab now found himself abjectly reduced to a clumsy landsman again; hopelessly eyeing the uncertain changeful height he could hardly hope to attain.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ABJECTLY

2. Intensely; to the utmost extreme.
   • 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Hill of Illusion”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 85:

     Never ask a man his opinion of a woman's dress when he is desperately and abjectly in love with the wearer.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ABJECTLY

References

Further reading

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abjectly”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.