Beseechingly

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner that conveys a heartfelt and desperate appeal for help or favor
2. Acting with a sense of urgency that emphasizes earnest entreaty and intimate request for assistance
3. In a way that shows deep urgency and a desperate request for aid

Etymology: "Beseechingly" is a plain formation: the adjective "beseeching" with the suffix "-ly" attached. The adjective comes from "beseech," which goes back through Old English and Germanic roots to a Proto-Indo-European base that also gave rise to words for "to ask" and "to seek." The suffix has the more traceable history. It descends from Proto-Germanic "-līkaz," a form meaning "having the form or appearance of," which passed through Proto-West Germanic and Old English as "-līċe," the regular ending for turning an adjective into an adverb of manner. Over the centuries that ending shifted in Middle English to "-ly," the form it keeps today. Attached to "beseeching," it describes the manner of an action: something done in the way a person pleads, with the urgency and earnestness of a request that is hard to refuse.

Synonyms: imploringly, entreatingly