adj, name ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Having qualities resembling those of steel, especially hardness and resoluteness.

   "The bully backed down before his steely gaze."

2. 2
   Made of steel.

   "Broach'd with the steely point of Clifford's lance."

Adjective

1. 1
   resembling steel in hardness wordnet
2. 2
   resembling steel as in hardness wordnet

Proper Noun

1. 1
   A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms

hardacieradamantadamantineashenashy

Example

More examples

"He transfixed me with two sharp, steely eyes."

Etymology

From steel + -y.

Related phrases

steely hair diseasesteely ironsteely-eyedsteely-nervedsteely-spined

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.