SORELY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

To a great degree

Example:

we were sorely taxed to keep up with them

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

sore (causing misery or pain or distress)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In or as if in pain

Example:

sorely wounded

Synonyms:

painfully; sorely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

sore (hurting)

Credits

Context examples:

Then naught came up out of the blackness save a heavy panting of some creature struggling sorely for air.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Right in the middle there lay the body of a man sorely contorted and still twitching.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by throngs of singular and often undesirable characters but her remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life which must have sorely tried her patience.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dummling asked him what he was taking to heart so sorely, and he answered: I have such a great thirst and cannot quench it; cold water I cannot stand, a barrel of wine I have just emptied, but that to me is like a drop on a hot stone!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

But at last your uncle was forced to yield, and instead of being allowed to be of use to his niece, was forced to put up with only having the probable credit of it, which went sorely against the grain; and I really believe your letter this morning gave him great pleasure, because it required an explanation that would rob him of his borrowed feathers, and give the praise where it was due.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Oh, my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and sorely stricken man.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in upon the current of his thoughts.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Being sure that no one could do it so well as herself, she went straight to Mr. Laurence, told the hard story bravely through, and then broke down, crying so dismally over her own insensibility that the kind old gentleman, though sorely disappointed, did not utter a reproach.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Tom's complaints had been greatly heightened by the shock of his sister's conduct, and his recovery so much thrown back by it, that even Lady Bertram had been struck by the difference, and all her alarms were regularly sent off to her husband; and Julia's elopement, the additional blow which had met him on his arrival in London, though its force had been deadened at the moment, must, she knew, be sorely felt.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“I don't know how it can be,” said Mr. Dick, sorely puzzled and shaking his head.