In a sad, discouraged, or hopeless manner; with a tone or manner showing lack of optimism.
Adverbial form of 'downhearted,' adding the suffix '-ly' (from Old English 'lice', meaning 'like' or 'in the manner of') to create an adverb describing how an action is performed.
The '-ly' suffix is so old and productive in English that we can instantly convert almost any adjective to an adverb—it's one of the most efficient word-making tools we have!
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