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blurrily

blurrily

1 5.6
In a way that is not clear or easy to see
  • adverb
  • /ˈblɜːrɪli/
translation icon : borrosamente
  • Ahead, the night-lights and scattered Christmas decorations swam up blurrily through the rain.

Examples

  • She did lean nearer, blurrily.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Under these conditions, optics were altogether inadequate, yet he saw, however partially and blurrily; he felt, he defied.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • "What is it?" I asked blurrily, trying to focus on the paper, which had become visible when the man turned toward me.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Daniel Craig appears for the first time in his third Bond film, blurrily walking towards the camera.

    Blog text (1)
  • He had visions of himself blurrily pictured in the back pages of the Star, and underneath the caption: "Man Performs Abdominal Surgery on Self."

    Fiction book (1992)
  • "Isabelle's eyes were pricking; she turned her face away and looked out blurrily over the precipitous fall of jungled escarpments, down into the basin of Grande Riviere.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • "What is it?" I asked blurrily, trying to focus on the paper, which had become visible when the man turned toward me.

  • There were photos of Christmas morning, of children blurrily ripping open gifts.

Synonyms

indistinctly
vsblurrily
23 6.3

Hard to see, hear, or remember clearly

is narrower, focusing mainly on sight and understanding rather than hearing
fuzzily
vsblurrily
1 5.4

In a way that is unclear or blurry

is broader and covers general lack of clarity in sight or understanding
unclearly
vsblurrily
1 4.4

Not clear or hard to understand

is more about lack of visual clarity as well as understanding
opaquely
vsblurrily
1 8.0

In a way that is hard to understand or see through

is more about simple lack of visual clarity rather than deliberate obscurity
blurredly
vsblurrily
7.5

In a way that is unclear and hard to see or understand

is the same in meaning but uses a different spelling
foggily
vsblurrily
5.6

In a way that is not clear and hard to remember

is more general and not limited to the fog image

Antonyms

881 1.0

In a way that is easy to see, hear, or understand

76 3.2

In a way that is clear and easy to notice

How Clearly

clearly
881 1.0
blurrily
1 5.6
indistinctly
23 6.3
obscurely
2 7.7

Surface Forms

blurrily positive

Morphology

blurrily = blurry (transparent) = blur + y + ly

Standard adverbial formation from the adjective 'blurry' by adding '-ly'; the meaning is directly predictable from 'blurry'.

Etymology

Blurrily comes from the simple verb blur, which means 'not clear' or to make lines and details run together, and the ending -ly turns that idea into how something is seen. So, to see something blurrily is to see it in a soft, unclear way, like when your glasses are dirty or you are crying.