English

Adverb

slightingly ‎(comparative more slightingly, superlative most slightingly)

1. (archaic) in a slighting manner, belittlingly
   • 1786, Boswell, Life Of Johnson, Volume 5:

     I was afraid of a quarrel between Dr. Johnson and Mr. M'Aulay, who talked slightingly of the lower English clergy.

   • 1832, Edward Berens, Advice to a Young Man upon First Going to Oxford:

     They are, I believe, sometimes spoken slightingly of by men of learning; I, however, as an unlearned man, think them particularly useful.

   • 1880, John Nichol, Byron:

     He is fond of gossip, and apt to speak slightingly of some of his friends, but is loyal to others.

   • 1899, Knut Hamsun, Hunger, translated by George Egerton, Part II, page 133

     In order to console myself—to indemnify myself in some measure—I take to picking all possible faults in the people who glide by. I shrug my shoulders contemptuously, and look slightingly at them according as they pass.

   • 1915, James Branch Cabell, The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck:

     The colonel touched upon the time when buzzards, in the guise of carpet-baggers, had battened upon the recumbent form; and spoke slightingly of divers persons of antiquity as compared with various Confederate leaders, whose names were greeted with approving nods and ripples of polite enthusiasm.

Related terms

• slight
• slighted
• slighting

Translations