combatively

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Vulgar Latin combatto

Old French combatre

French combattredeverb.

French combatbor.

English combat

Proto-Indo-European *-wós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder.

Latin -īvus

Old French -ifbor.

Middle English -yf

English -ive

English combative

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der.

Proto-Germanic *līkąder.

Proto-Germanic *-līkaz

Proto-Germanic *-ê

Proto-Germanic *-līkê

Proto-West Germanic *-līkē

Old English -līċe

Middle English -ly

English -ly

English combatively

From combative + -ly.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkəmˈbæ.t̬ɪv.li/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Adverb

combatively (comparative more combatively, superlative most combatively)

1. In a combative way.
   • 1909, Arthur Stringer, The Gun-Runner: A Novel:

     "Is it hopeless?" she asked at last, without turning her face to him. She struggled to ask it casually, but the bitter listlessness of her voice translated every tone and word of that question into the notes of utter tragedy.
     "No, it's not hopeless," he said, combatively, aggressively, for her sake alone.

   • 1922, William Briggs MacHarg, Peewee, In His Mother's Arms:

     Peewee squirmed combatively. What did all this mean? Why was he expected to remember? He could not understand what was going on. "No, sir," he said.

   • 1994, Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks, An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, page 234:

     the black comic characters joked or laughed or acted the fool with one another. Or sometimes they used humor combatively to outwit the white characters.

Translations

combatively

• Esperanto: bataleme (eo)