gingerly
Very carefully and gently, so that nothing goes wrong.
gingerly in a sentence
- Holding the baby bird gingerly in both hands, Amara carried it back to its nest.
- Stepping gingerly across the icy pavement, Grandad held the railing tightly all the way to the postbox.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to gingerly?
- Aboldly
- Bcarelessly
- Croughly
- Dcarefully
Show the answer
D: carefully. The other three mean the opposite of gingerly.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to gingerly?
- Acarefully
- Broughly
- Ccautiously
- Dgently
Show the answer
B: roughly. The other three mean nearly the same as gingerly.
Words that mean something similar
carefully, cautiously, gently
Words that mean the opposite
roughly, carelessly, boldly
More words about movement & action
- glide: To move smoothly and quietly, without any effort.
- grapple: To wrestle or struggle with something difficult.
- gruelling: So hard and tiring that it completely wears you out.
- hamper: To make it hard for someone to do something.
- hasty: Done too quickly and without thinking.
- hectic: Extremely busy and full of rushing about.
- hinder: To make something harder to do or slow it down.
- hoist: To lift something up, often using ropes or effort.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test