steely

«steely» in Mova's school dictionary: Made of steel, or grey and shiny like steel — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (steely, steelier, steeliest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Made of steel, or grey and shiny like steel. tree →

2) Hard, strong and determined; not showing soft feelings: «a steely stare», «steely determination». tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, steely eyes or a steely voice show that a character is tough, cold or very determined — like a strict teacher or a hero who will not give up. In art and description, «steely grey» is a cold blue-grey colour of sky or sea.

examples

• She gave him a steely look and he stopped talking. tree →
• The sky was a steely grey before the storm. tree →
• With steely determination, she finished the race. tree →
• The captain spoke in a steely voice. tree →
• Badger had a steely glint in his eye before the battle. tree →
• The sea looked steely and cold. tree →
• “Cecco,” he said in his most steely voice, “go back and fetch me out that doodle-doo.” tree →

note

Comparisons steelier, steeliest. Steely is usually about people's looks, voices and wills, or about colour.

In the corpora

• It is cold and still under a hard steely sky.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «steely» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.