stragglingly
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adverb:
- In a straggling manner; in a way that is spread out, scattered, or irregularly spaced, often lagging behind or moving away from a main group or path. It describes movement, growth, or arrangement that lacks order, compactness, or directness.
Usage
- The adverb stragglingly is used to modify verbs, describing an action is performed. It emphasizes a lack of cohesion, order, or direct progression.
- It is a formal and somewhat literary word, often used in descriptive writing.
Examples
- The tired hikers walked stragglingly back to the campsite, some far behind the others.
- Vines grew stragglingly up the old fence, covering it in an uneven, wild pattern.
- The crowd dispersed stragglingly after the event, with people leaving in small, scattered groups over a long period.
Advanced Usage
- "To occur stragglingly": To happen in a sporadic, scattered, or intermittent manner.
- Reports of the incident came in stragglingly throughout the afternoon, making it hard to piece together the timeline.
- Used to describe the irregular arrangement or extension of objects.
- The village houses were built stragglingly along the winding riverbank.
Variants and Related Words
- Straggle (verb): To move, spread, or grow in a scattered, irregular, or lagging way.
- The children began to straggle behind the tour guide.
- Straggler (noun): A person or thing that straggles, especially one that falls behind a group.
- The teacher waited for the last few stragglers.
- Straggly (adjective): Growing or spreading in a messy, irregular, or untidy way.
- He had long, straggly hair.
Synonyms
- Irregularly: In a manner that is not even or regular in pattern.
- Sporadically: Occurring at irregular intervals; scattered.
- Scatteredly: In a dispersed or spread-out manner.
- Raggedly (as in the reference context): In a rough, irregular, or uneven way.
Antonyms
- Compactly: In a closely and neatly packed together manner.
- Orderly: In a neat, organized, or methodical way.
- Uniformly: In a manner that is consistent and unchanging; evenly.
Adverb
- in a ragged irregular manner
- a stone wall trails raggedly through the woods