sternly

1. 1.

   with sternness; in a severe manner

   “`No,' she said sternly”

   “peered severely over her glasses”

   Synonymsseverely

Questions about sternly

What does sternly mean?

sternly means "with sternness; in a severe manner".

How many syllables are in sternly?

sternly has 2 syllables: stern-ly. The stress falls on "stern". In IPA it is /ˈstɝnli/.

What is another word for sternly?

Close synonyms include severely. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sternly a common word?

sternly is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.