different between widely vs wifely

English

Etymology

From Middle English wijdly, equivalent to wide +? -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?wa?dli/

Adverb

widely (comparative widelier or more widely, superlative wideliest or most widely)

1. In a wide manner; across a wide area.
2. (figuratively) Commonly; generally; to a great degree.
   • 1948, Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States, J. B. Lippincott Company, page 75,

     In 1866 Colonel J. F. Meline noted that the rebozo had almost disappeared in Santa Fe and that hoop skirts, on sale in the stores, were being widely used.

Translations

Anagrams

• Wildey, dewily, wieldy

English

Alternative forms

• wively (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English wifly, wifli, from Old English w?fl?c (“womanly, wifely”), from Proto-Germanic *w?bal?kaz (“wifely”), equivalent to wife +? -ly. Cognate with Scots wyfelie (“womanly, wifely”), Dutch wijflijk, wijfelijk, German weiblich (“feminine, female”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?wa?fli/

Adjective

wifely (comparative wifelier, superlative wifeliest)

1. Of, befitting, pertaining to, or characteristic of a wife.
   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Part 2, Chapter 38,^[1]

     Being a domestic man, John decidedly missed the wifely attentions he had been accustomed to receive, but as he adored his babies, he cheerfully relinquished his comfort for a time, supposing with masculine ignorance that peace would soon be restored.

   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Unmarried,”^[3]

     A woman who does not nose into the domestic arrangements of the place she is going to occupy gives the first hint, for a woman indifferent to the heating, furnishing, plumbing, cooking utensils of her home is not wifely.

Synonyms

• uxorial
• wifey

Derived terms

• unwifely
• wifeliness

Translations

• Italian: mogliesco (it)