Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having or showing the knowledge or skill of a master.
  • adverb With the skill of a master.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a masterly manner; with the skill or ability of a master.
  • Pertaining to or characteristic of a master; characteristic of one who is master of his art or subject.
  • Acting like a master; imperious; domineering; masterful.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb With the skill of a master.
  • adjective Suitable to, or characteristic of, a master; indicating thorough knowledge or superior skill and power; showing a master's hand
  • adjective Imperious; domineering; arbitrary.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective That has been executed in the manner of one who is a master; extremely competently.
  • adverb In a masterful manner; competently.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or revealing supreme mastery or skill

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From master +‎ -ly.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word masterly.

Examples

  • Christ in masterly fashion drew a distinction between God and emperor while at the same time decreeing obedience to both God and emperor [1] – a fact that did not prevent the imperial procurator's condemnation of Christ to death on the cross.

    Introduction to Hugo Rahner's "Church and State in Early Christianity" 2009

  • Christ in masterly fashion drew a distinction between God and emperor while at the same time decreeing obedience to both God and emperor [1] – a fact that did not prevent the imperial procurator's condemnation of Christ to death on the cross.

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: 2009

  • The painters, hearing these words, applied themselves with all diligence to do what he required of them and wrought it out in masterly style; and when they had made an end of the work, they showed it to the Wazir who, seeing his so-called dream set forth as it was280 was pleased and thanked them and rewarded them munificently.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • ‘With pleasure,’ said I, and playing another measure in masterly fashion, sang thereto these couplets,

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • One of the many charms of The Letters of Kingsley Amis (2000), which has been edited in masterly fashion by Zachary Leader, is the way in which the collection demonstrates the slow transformation of this symbiotic relationship, whereby each man took on some of the qualities of the other and mutated rather nicely into a counterpart rather than an opposite.

    The Man of Feeling 2002

  • One of the many charms of The Letters of Kingsley Amis (2000), which has been edited in masterly fashion by Zachary Leader, is the way in which the collection demonstrates the slow transformation of this symbiotic relationship, whereby each man took on some of the qualities of the other and mutated rather nicely into a counterpart rather than an opposite.

    The Man of Feeling 2002

  • The superiority of his picture over Falconer's, lies in the simplicity and strength of the style, in the ease of the narrative, in the variety of the incidents and characters, and in certain short masterly touches, now of pathos, now of infernal humour, and now of description, competent only to Byron and to

    The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes George Gilfillan 1845

  • He says that paper plus water, plus emotion will give a result in themselves and proceeds with the idea at hand in what may without the least temerity be called a masterly fashion; he has run the gamut of experience with his materials from the earliest

    Adventures in the Arts Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets Marsden Hartley

  • Parker, indeed, they could not easily turn away, but Lord Peter found himself confronted with a surly manner and what Lord Beaconsfield described as a masterly inactivity.

    Whose Body? Dorothy Leigh 1923

  • Parker, indeed, they could not easily turn away, but Lord Peter found himself confronted with a surly manner and what Lord Beaconsfield described as a masterly inactivity.

    Whose Body Sayers, Dorothy L. 1923

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.