Dictionary

gracelessly en · ADV

Etymology

From Middle English gracelessly; equivalent to graceless + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a graceless manner
   • Barabbas jumped down the eroded slope towards the water and slipped the last few feet gracelessly on his arse. 1965, Wole Soyinka, The Interpreters, New York: Africana Publishing, published 1972, Part One, Chapter 8, p. 116:
   • The French, in his whole language, hath not one word that hath his accent in the last syllable, saving two, called antepenultima; and little more, hath the Spanish, and therefore very gracelessly may they use dactiles. 1595, Philip Sidney, An Apologie for Poetrie:
   • As he finished he heard the footsteps of the woman who daily came to work for him. They were slow, dragging footsteps implying the bulk they gracelessly shifted. 1968, William Trevor, “The General's Day”, in Collected Stories, Penguin, published 1992, page 30:

Forms