MASTERLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does masterly mean? 

• MASTERLY (adjective)
  The adjective MASTERLY has 1 sense:

1. having or revealing supreme mastery or skill

  Familiarity information: MASTERLY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MASTERLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or revealing supreme mastery or skill

Synonyms:

consummate; masterful; masterly; virtuoso

Context example:

a virtuoso performance

Similar:

skilled (having or showing or requiring special skill)

Derivation:

master (an artist of consummate skill)

master (an authority qualified to teach apprentices)

 Context examples 

“Did ever you witness anything more masterly?”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

—by re-reading your masterly address at Vienna.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My fingers, said Elizabeth, do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women's do.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Eager to find material for stories, and bent on making them original in plot, if not masterly in execution, she searched newspapers for accidents, incidents, and crimes.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Nevertheless, by his masterly operation and improvement of her kitchen- laundry he fell an immense distance in her regard.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

My aunt, who was perfectly indifferent to public opinion, drove the grey pony through Dover in a masterly manner; sitting high and stiff like a state coachman, keeping a steady eye upon him wherever he went, and making a point of not letting him have his own way in any respect.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You are masterly.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)