gingerly
part of speech
adverb (gingerly); adjective (gingerly — less common)
meaning for a pupil
Very carefully and slowly, because you are afraid of hurting yourself or breaking something, or of what might happen. tree →
sense in the lessons
Used in stories to show caution: she stepped gingerly onto the ice. In everyday life and safety: moving gingerly over something slippery or touching something sore. Alice goes gingerly near strange creatures; Mole steps gingerly into the boat.
examples
- She stepped gingerly onto the frozen pond. tree →
- He touched his bruised knee gingerly. tree →
- Mole climbed gingerly into the boat. tree →
- Alice picked up the bottle gingerly. tree →
- The vet lifted the hurt puppy gingerly. tree →
- We walked gingerly across the wobbly bridge. tree →
- He gingerly opened the box to see what was inside. tree →
- He held it gingerly for a few moments. tree →
note
Although it ends in -ly, it does not come from «ginger» the spice or hair colour. Say «JIN-jer-lee». Mostly an adverb.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «gingerly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.