deadly
/ˈdɛdli/ adjective, adverb
Forms deadlier deadliest
- adjective (obsolete, rare) Subject to death; mortal.
- adjective Causing death; lethal.
- adjective Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile. “deadly enemies”
- adjective Very accurate (of aiming with a bow, firearm, etc.).
- adjective (informal) Very boring.
- adjective (informal, Australian Aboriginal, Ireland, Newfoundland) Excellent, awesome, cool.
- adverb (obsolete) Fatally, mortally.
- adverb In a way which suggests death. “Her face suddenly became deadly white.”
- adverb Extremely, incredibly.
Synonyms
deathly mortal lethal venomous virulent baneful pernicious pestilent lifelessly madly insanely deucedly devilishly
Etymology
From Middle English dedly, dedlych, dedlich, from Old English dēadlīċ (adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *dauþalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dauþalīkaz (“deadly”, literally “deathly”). By surface analysis, dead + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian dodelk (“deadly”), West Frisian deadlik (“deadly”), Dutch dodelijk (“deadly”), German tödlich (“deadly”), Swedish dödlig (“deadly, fatal, mortal”), Icelandic dauðlegur (“mortal”).
The adverb is from Middle English dedliche, from Old English dēadlīċe (adverb), from the adjective.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Capable of causing death; mortal; fatal; destructive; certain or likely to cause death; as, a deadly blow or wound.
- adjective Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile; flagitious; as, deadly enemies.
- adverb In a manner resembling, or as if produced by, death. "Deadly pale." Shak.
- adverb In a manner to occasion death; mortally.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “deadly”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details