Dictionary

contentedly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /kənˈtɛn.tɪd.liː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /konˈʈɛn.ʈɪɖ.liː/ (India)
• /kənˈtɛn.tɪd.li/ (Canada, General-American, Scotland)
• kən-tĕn′tĭd-lē
• /kənˈten.təd.liː/ (New-Zealand)
• /kənˈten.tɪd.liː/ (Australia)

Etymology

Etymology tree English contented Middle English -ly English -ly English contentedly From contented + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a contented manner.
   • Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 202, column 1:
   • Please tell me something useful by which I may live my life more fully, or more contentedly, or more creatively. 2001, Conrad P. Pritscher, Quantum Learning: Beyond Duality, Leiden: Rodopi, published 2001, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 11, lines 24–25:
   • “Take my word for it, you’ll settle down with us all right. Give us a trial anyway. . . . . Come in, Mr. Hopkins. . . . This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 84–85:

Forms