questionably

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
English question
Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom
Proto-Italic *-ðlom
Proto-Italic *-ðlis
Latin -bilis
Latin -ābilis
Old French -ablebor.
Middle English -able
English -able
English questionable
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 questionably

    From questionable + -ly.

    Adverb

    questionably (comparative more questionably, superlative most questionably)

    1. In a questionable manner.
      • 1911, Frederic Jesup Stimson, chapter XVI, in Popular Law-making‎[1]:
        Under the Fifteenth Amendment there is little political legislation, except the effort in Southern States by educational or property qualifications, and most questionably by the so-called "grandfather clause," to exclude most negroes from the right of suffrage.
      • 1912, Henry Havelock Ellis, Task of Social Hygiene:
        The higher task is now ours of the regeneration of the race, or, if we wish to express that betterment less questionably, the aggeneration of the race.
      • 2000, John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge, A future perfect: the essentials of globalization:
        Vivid, a pioneer in the questionably named field of cyberdildonics, has even designed an electronic suit that allows couples in different countries to "interact" to their mutual satisfaction...

    Translations

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