respectfully
adv/ɹɪˈspɛkt.fə.li/
Etymology From respectful + -ly.
1
In a respectful manner.
- York got down and said very respectfully, "I beg your pardon, my lady, but these horses have not been reined up for three years, and my lord said it would be safer to bring them to it by degrees; but if your ladyship pleases, I can take them up a little more."[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, pages 104–105:
- There is something wonderful and sad about Ohio around Christmastime — maybe the reasons are the licentious, Yukon sleddog cold and the buildings on the main streets of college towns standing respectfully buttressed with graceful wings...1968, Melvin Van Peebles, A bear for the FBI, page 131:
3 more examples
- There are, here and there, scattered throughout the scherzo, uncouthnesses of harmony and false relationships which hypercritical ferreters-out of blemishes might perhaps carp at but which we pass by respectfully[…]1984, Charles Reid, The Music Monster, page 165:
- Fr. Greeley's specialty is robust, respectfully kinkless sex bathed in a rosy glow of soon-to-be-blessed romantic love.1989, Kirkus Reviews, volume 57, numbers 7-13, page 859:
- “Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right,” Parton, 76, wrote in a statement posted to social media. “I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.”2022 March 14, Joe Coscarelli, quoting Dolly Parton, “Dolly Parton Bows Out of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nomination”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Related terms
- respectively, respectably