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Glite Dictionary
🧪 To check something 🧐 To provoke
testingly

testingly

7.7
In a way that tries to make someone react
  • adverb
  • /ˈtɛstɪŋli/
translation icon : de manera provocativa
  • He looked at her testingly, waiting to see if she would answer honestly.

Examples

  • She laughed testingly to gauge his reaction to her joke.

  • The child asked testingly if he could stay up past his bedtime.

  • She looked at him testingly.

  • The teacher spoke testingly to see if the student was paying attention.

  • He looked at her testingly, waiting to see if she would admit her mistake.

  • The child raised his hand testingly to see if the teacher would call on him.

  • She spoke testingly to see how he would react to her suggestion.

Synonyms

provocatively
vstestingly
8 6.8

In a way that tries to make people react strongly

is aimed at checking reactions rather than merely causing strong emotion
challengingly
vstestingly
1 6.5

In a way that dares someone to respond

is meant to check reactions rather than only daring or causing them

How Provocative

tauntingly
  • Offensive
1 7.5
testingly
7.7
teasingly
3 3.7
playfully
18 1.4

Surface Forms

testingly positive

Morphology

testingly = testing (transparent) = test + ing + ly

Formed by adding the productive adverbial suffix '-ly' to the participial/adjectival base 'testing'; the intent to provoke or test is a straightforward extension.

Etymology

Testingly comes from the common word test, which means 'to try' or 'check', together with the ending -ingly. That's why testingly often means acting 'in a way that tries' to see how a person will react.