I have a small problem. Every now and then, I want to change a word into an adverb (using “-ly”), but I am unable to because the word is too long, the addition of “-ly” makes it sound too silly, etc.
I know for the comparative adjective “-er” and the superlative adjective “-est” we have more and most, respectively. But what separate word, if indeed any, can be used to mean “-ly”?
Any help anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated 
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So, instead of saying “greatly” you want to say “in a great way” in just two words, one of them being “great”?
Actually you have already made an interesting point: using an adverbial prepositional phrase would partly solve the problem. But yes, my original question was is there one word that means “-ly” just like “more” means “-er”, etc.
Can you give an example?
I would also like to see some examples of -ly making a word sound silly.
You could try “with <noun>” instead of “<adjective>-ly” but, just looking at a few examples, I think the “<adjective>-ly” would be prefered in just about every case.
Examples:
“He craftily opened the wine bottle.” or “He opened the wine bottle with craft.”
“She spoke profoundly.” or “She spoke with profundity.”
“He hastily washed the teacup.” or “He washed the teacup with haste.”
The “with <noun>” construction does have the advantage of adding an adjective to the noun, e.g. “He washed the teacup with inhuman haste.”
I was afraid someone was going to ask for an example. I know I notice it from time to time with many (or more than one in any event) words. The only example I can think of offhand is smelly. What is the adverb form of smelly? Smellily? I know that one was kind of weak. I do find it hard to believe though I am the only one who’s ever noticed this. Does anyone else know what I am talking about ?
Yes! Like funnily. It’s a word, and I use it, but man… it sounds bizarre.
The affix ‘–ly’ simply means ‘like’, therefore the adverb that means ‘-ly’ is ‘like’. (Well duh 
)
That’s a bit troublesome because using ‘like’ in that manner is somewhat archaic. You’d probably get some odd looks saying that something is smelly-like. Sounds like that line from Monty Python’s ‘Cheese Shop’ sketch – “Oooh arr, ‘ee be ‘ungry like.”
But that’s the adverb that is technically correct. ‘He opened the wine bottle craft-like’, “she spoke profound-like”, “He washed the teacup haste-like”.
Of course I personally believe that Ethilrist has the more elegant and modern solution: just use two words.
For the specific examply, I would say “stinkily.”
Otherwise, I usually just use the -ly: don’t be afraid to sound silly.
How would you use the adverbial form of “smelly” in a sentence? I can’t think of how you would do something in a smelly manner. For verbs that might be a possibility (e.g., “fart”), the adjective would be redundant.
Hypothetical Discussion I Just Made Up (from a workplace):
JOHN: "Boy, I’ve been so preoccupied with that Johnson account, I haven’t bathed in weeks!
JANE: “Really?”
JOHN: “Yeah, I guess you could say I’ve been working smellily.”
Okely-Dokely!
But I don’t want to speak sillily!
By coindidence, seconds before I saw this thread I was contemplating the word “lively.”
Livelily?
Now that sounds silly.
Makes me think of funnels.
Sillily is a word. Look up “silly” on dictionary.com, and scroll down for the adverb.
Higgledy-piggledily sounds pretty stupid.
Why can’t you just use “smelly” as the adverb? Adverbs don’t require an “-ly” (e.g., “The watch runs slow” or “I feel bad.” Both are perfectly correct – look it up).
When you use this techique, are you doing it advertbily?
Adverbily? :smack:
I should never post before having coffee.