irregularlyadv.
/ɪˈrɛɡjʊləli/ In an irregular manner.
1. In a way not according to rule; with deviation from or violation of rule; lawlessly; anomalously, abnormally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > a standard of conduct > [adverb] > not according to standard behaviour
irregularly1591
exorbitantlya1635
featly1674
unorthodoxically1733
eccentrically1737
unorthodoxly1798
nonconformably1860
kinkily1934
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Irregularmente Irregularly, without rule.
1675 in O. Airy Essex Papers (1890) I. 300 There were 8 Aldermen & ye Recorder most violently & irregularly thrust out of their places.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 17 With daring aims, irregularly great.
1885 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 29 827 He considered..that the addition had been irregularly made.
2. Without regularity, symmetry, or uniformity; without order of arrangement, formation, motion, succession, etc.; unevenly; in disorder.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > [adverb]
confusedly1553
irregularly1595
oddly1597
rudely1656
eccentrically1678
the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adverb] > without regularity of shape
irregularly1776
1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres i. lxxxiv. sig. E3 Like to a riuer that..breakes his owne bed, Destroies his bounds and ouer-runs by force The neighbour fields irregularly spread.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 36 The contraction is performed very unequally and irregularly.
1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V III. xi. 276 The soldiers in garrison being paid as irregularly.
1776 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4, octavo) III. iv. 296 Marked with large, distinct, irregularly shaped spots of black.
1776–96 W. Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 252 Irregularly serrated at the edges.
1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. ii. 19 In some countries rain comes very irregularly and uncertainly.
1881 B. Jowett tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War I. 167 The islands..lying irregularly and not one behind the other.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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adv.1591