acidly

adv

"acidly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“acidly” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - sourly; tartly

Corpus desk

Index EN-acidly · acidly · English

acidly · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "A" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for acidly
PropertyValue
Headwordacidly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “acidly” in English

acidlyranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

acidly is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "sourly; tartly".

No generated misspelling entries exist for acidly in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From acid + -ly. The correct English form is acidly, spelled A-C-I-D-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    sourly; tartly

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how acidly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Perchance, when you are speculating why he is so acidly disposed some morning, he is but meditating upon that other half-hour which he wanted in bed, to bring his wits and his good-temper about him.
  2. Flay involuntarily propels his gawky body forwards as he hears that his Lordship wants him, but he pulls himself up at the end of his first long step towards the door, and peers even more suspiciously and acidly at the youth in his immaculate black cloth.

Etymology

From acid + -ly.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "acidly"?
"acidly" is spelled A-C-I-D-L-Y.
What does "acidly" mean?
As an adverb, "acidly" means: sourly; tartly
What is the origin of the word "acidly"?
From acid + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list