adv · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/mɪˈkɔːbəli/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/mɪˈkɔbɚli/
General-American:/məˈkɑ-/
1
adv
Meaning 1
in an upbeat and optimistic way, in the face of seemingly hopeless circumstances
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Micawber + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, having the sense of ‘behaving like, or having a nature typical of [what is denoted by the noun]’) (see origin of name there), from the character Wilkins Micawber – noted for his naive optimism, always confident that “something will turn up” – in David Copperfield (1849–1850) by the English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870).