suggestibly
|sug-gest-i-bly|
🇺🇸
/səˈdʒɛstəbl/
🇬🇧
/səˈdʒɛstɪbəl/
(suggestible)
easily influenced
Etymology
'suggestibly' ultimately derives from the verb 'suggest', which comes from Latin 'suggerere' (also seen as 'suggest-') where the prefix 'sub-' meant 'under' and 'gerere' meant 'to carry or bear'. The adjective 'suggestible' was formed from 'suggest' + the adjective-forming suffix '-ible', and the adverb 'suggestibly' from 'suggestible' + '-ly'.
'suggest' entered English via Old French and Late Latin (Latin 'suggerere' → Old French 'sugerer'/'suggérer') and Middle English 'suggesten'; from this came the adjective 'suggestible' in Modern English, which later produced the adverb 'suggestibly'.
Originally Latin 'suggerere' meant 'to bring under, to present, to put forward' (a physical or figurative carrying under/presenting). Over time the English 'suggest' came to mean 'to propose or put forward an idea', and derivatives like 'suggestible' evolved to mean 'capable of being influenced by such proposals'; the adverb 'suggestibly' carries that same sense of susceptibility.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the quality of being easily influenced by suggestions (definition for the related noun 'suggestibility').
High suggestibility can affect eyewitness testimony.
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Adjective 1
capable of being influenced by suggestion; liable to accept proposed ideas or prompts (definition for the related adjective 'suggestible').
Children are often more suggestible than adults in stressful situations.
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Adverb 1
in a manner that is easily influenced by suggestions, persuasion, or external cues; in a way that shows susceptibility to suggestion.
Under hypnosis she answered suggestibly, accepting ideas the interviewer proposed.
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Last updated: 2025/10/31 22:08
