Library / English Dictionary

MADLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(used as intensives) extremely

Example:

insanely jealous

Synonyms:

deadly; deucedly; devilishly; insanely; madly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

intensifier; intensive (a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In an insane manner

Example:

screaming dementedly

Synonyms:

crazily; dementedly; insanely; madly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

mad (affected with madness or insanity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

In an uncontrolled manner

Example:

she fought back madly

Synonyms:

frantically; madly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

mad (marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Instantly a thunderous shout of delight burst from them, and we saw them rise from their seats, waving their paddles and spears madly in the air.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds, and clawed the air with both his hands.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory, or rather, to word my phrase more characteristically, of advancement in his profession.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Now I know Mother will shake her head, and the girls say, "Oh, the mercenary little wretch!", but I've made up my mind, and if Fred asks me, I shall accept him, though I'm not madly in love.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us began a louder and a sharper howling—that of wolves—which affected both the horses and myself in the same way—for I was minded to jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Well, I feigned courtship of Miss Ingram, because I wished to render you as madly in love with me as I was with you; and I knew jealousy would be the best ally I could call in for the furtherance of that end.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This fellow is madly, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a registry office?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I rushed madly from the room on to the landing.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With Venus in your sign, you might want to buy new clothes in December—you will find them to be madly flattering—and to find ways to refresh your appearance.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Grey as he was—and a great-grandfather into the bargain, for he said so—I was madly jealous of him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)