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Glite Dictionary
🍞 Densely or heavily 🗣️ Unclear speech
thickly

thickly

2 7.0
In a way that makes your words sound slurred and hard to understand
  • adverb
  • /ˈθɪkli/
translation icon : pesadamente
  • "Are you saying that makes it any better?" he said thickly.
  • said thickly
  • muttered thickly
  • spoke thickly

Examples

  • "I'm not hurt," he added thickly, sounding as if his tongue was too heavy to speak clearly.

  • "I'm sorry," he said thickly; then his eyes closed again as if to escape the sight of them.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • As he moved to kiss her, he murmured thickly, "I'll try not to hurt you, Phoebe."

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Her eyes fluttered open, and she muttered thickly, "What?" No answer.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • "I know it," Moustique said thickly because of his swollen lip.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • "Paterson's dead," he said thickly, stumbling over his tongue.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • As he spoke, his words came out thickly, making it hard for her to understand him.

  • "You're awake?" he asked thickly, struggling to articulate through his swollen tongue.

Antonyms

clearly
881 1.0

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

articulately
4 4.9

In a clear, fluent way that makes ideas easy to understand

Compounds

thickly settled
4.5

An area where many people live close together

How Clear

clearly
881 1.0
distinctly
76 3.2
unclearly
1 4.4
thickly
2 7.0

Surface Forms

thickly positive

Morphology

thickly = thick (transparent) = thick + ly

A regular adverb formed from the adjective 'thick' with -ly; the meaning 'in a thick manner' straightforwardly extends to speech pronounced with poor articulation.

Etymology

Thickly goes back to the old English word thick, which meant 'dense' or 'not thin'. Imagine speaking with a mouth full of cotton so your words sound heavy and hard to hear — that's why thickly can mean 'with unclear or heavy speech'.