Corrosively

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner that leads to harmful degradation or decay
2. In a way that promotes the gradual breakdown of materials through chemical action
3. Acting in a way that slowly eats away or deteriorates a surface through chemical reaction

Etymology: "Corrosively" is simply "corrosive" with the adverb ending "-ly" added, and the ending itself has a long pedigree. It descends from a Proto-Germanic suffix "-līkaz," which meant something like "having the form of" or "resembling," and which is related to the same root that gives "like" in English. Over the centuries that suffix passed through Old English "-līċe" and Middle English "-ly," gradually shedding its sense of resemblance until it became a simple marker that turns an adjective into an adverb describing manner. The base word, "corrosive," comes from the same idea of gnawing away. Its ancestry runs back to a Proto-Indo-European root "*leyg-," meaning "to leave behind," which may seem an odd match for something that eats through metal, though the link lies in the sense of things being broken down and left diminished. So "corrosively" describes acting in the manner of something that wears a thing away bit by bit, a form that English built from a suffix once meaning "in the likeness of."

Synonyms: caustically, bitingly

Antonyms: gently, softly