understandingly

English

Etymology

From Middle English undirstondingli, understandandly, equivalent to understanding +‎ -ly.

Adverb

understandingly (comparative more understandingly, superlative most understandingly)

  1. In an understanding manner; with empathy.
    • 1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 101:
      [T]he proprietor smiled understandingly.
  2. (obsolete) In a way that can be understood; intelligibly.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
      , vol.I, New York, 2001, p.232:
      Garcias ab Horto writes of one whom he saw at Goa in the East Indies, that took ten drams of opium in three days; and yet consulto loquebatur, spake understandingly […]
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