Standard Lemma guide

respectfully

adv · 2 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.

  • /ɹɪˈspɛkt.fə.li/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R IH0 S P EH1 K T F AH0 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a respectful manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: disrespectfully

2

adverb

Meaning 2

in a respectful manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • might I respectfully suggest to the Town Council that they should adopt a policy of masterly inactivity?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: disrespectfully

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English respectful Middle English -ly English -ly English respectfully From respectful + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: почтително (počtitelno) — in a respectful manner
  • Catalan: respectuosament — in a respectful manner
  • Esperanto: altestime — in a respectful manner
  • Esperanto: respekte — in a respectful manner
  • Esperanto: respekteme — in a respectful manner
  • French: respectueusement — in a respectful manner
  • Galician: respectuosamente — in a respectful manner
  • German: respektvoll — in a respectful manner
  • Hindi: सम्मानपूर्वक (sammānpūrvak) — in a respectful manner
  • Hindi: सविनय (savinay) — in a respectful manner
  • Hungarian: tiszteletteljesen — in a respectful manner
  • Hungarian: tisztelettel — in a respectful manner
  • Italian: rispettosamente — in a respectful manner
  • Latin: reverenter — in a respectful manner
  • Malayalam: സാദരം (sādaraṁ) — in a respectful manner
  • Malayalam: ആദരവോടെ (ādaravōṭe) — in a respectful manner
  • Norman: respectueusement — in a respectful manner
  • Polish: z całym szacunkiem — in a respectful manner
  • Portuguese: respeitosamente — in a respectful manner
  • Russian: уважи́тельно (uvažítelʹno) — in a respectful manner
  • Russian: почти́тельно (počtítelʹno) — in a respectful manner
  • Spanish: respetuosamente — in a respectful manner
  • Ukrainian: шанобли́во (šanoblývo) — in a respectful manner
Real reading context

respectfully in complete knowledge articles