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adverbial

American  
[ad-vur-bee-uhl] / ædˈvɜr bi əl /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or used as an adverb.


noun

  1. a word or phrase functioning as an adverb.

adverbial British  
/ ædˈvɜːbɪəl /

noun

  1. a word or group of words playing the grammatical role of an adverb, such as in the rain in the sentence I'm singing in the rain

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. of or relating to an adverb or adverbial

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of adverbial

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin adverbi(um) adverb + -al 1; compare Late Latin adverbiālis

Vocabulary lists containing adverbial

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Interestingly, low scoring essays showed the highest level of complexity in finite adverbial dependent clauses," the linguist writes in her paper.

From Science Daily • Jun. 18, 2024

His plan, as “detailed,” is an adverbial clause.

From Slate • Aug. 23, 2016

In “The shorter the better,” the the is actually a holdover from an old adverbial form meaning “in that” or “by that” that we also see in “none the less” and “so much the better.”

From Salon • Apr. 18, 2013

I make my bread deciding whether a word is an attributive noun or adjective, parsing adverbial uses over conjunctive uses, writing those delightfully boring usage notes in your dictionary.

From The Guardian • Mar. 4, 2013

There are three forms of the participle, viz.:—The adjectival in -A, the adverbial in -E, and the substantival in -O. 203.

From The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by Cox, George

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