Dictionary

dumbly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈdʌmli/

Etymology

Etymology tree English dumb Middle English -ly English -ly English dumbly From dumb + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a silent way.
   • I handed it dumbly to my friend, who had the grace to giggle. 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 32:
   • We both stared at it dumbly, wondering why she had done such a thing, when suddenly something remarkable began to happen. 1991, Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 156:
   • On the flat behind the mill, dawn-rising Chinamen shogged with nimble bare feet under their yoke-linked watering-cans. These busy brethren, meeting sometimes on the same narrow track, would pause, ant-like, seemingly to dumbly regard one another and their burdens, then, still ant-like, pass silently to their work. 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 147:
2. (derogatory, informal) In an unsmart way.

Forms

Synonyms

silently