gingerly
Often of movements: very careful, cautious, or delicateOften of movements: very careful, cautious, or delicate.
» Tom cut a slice and sampled it gingerly.
Том отрезал кусочек и осторожно попробовал. — Smoky
Smoky · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 sensesOften of movements: very careful, cautious, or delicate.
(obsolete)Often of a person or the way they move: dainty, delicate; also, excessively delicate; affected, mincing.
- with extreme care or delicacy
Examples
4 sentencesTom cut a slice and sampled it gingerly.
ruТом отрезал кусочек и осторожно попробовал. — Smoky
The opera singer tested her voice gingerly after recovering from throat surgery.
I have gingerly opened the post box each night waiting for the letter.
Mary gingerly lifted the creature out of the box and placed it on the floor.
deMaria hob das Wesen behutsam aus der Schachtel und setzte es auf den Boden. — brauchinet
Origin
The second element is -ly; the first element may be Anglo-Norman gençur or Old French gençThe second element is -ly; the first element may be Anglo-Norman gençur or Old French gençor, gensor, comparative forms (also attested as positives) of gent (“beautiful, noble, pleasant, courteous”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes, however, that there is a gap of a few centuries between the last appearance of gençor, etc., and the first appearance of gingerly.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
more gingerly, most gingerly| Comparative | more gingerly Lesson |
|---|---|
| Superlative | most gingerly Lesson |
regular
Synonyms
4 synonymsWord family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
2 lessons- A2Comparatives — Because it has a comparative form
- A2Superlatives — Because it has a superlative form
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.