straw-clutchingly

English

Etymology

straw-clutching +‎ -ly

Adverb

straw-clutchingly (comparative more straw-clutchingly, superlative most straw-clutchingly)

1. In a manner which involves clutching at straws
   • 1999 October 22, Bryn Palmer, “Same again for men in black”, in The Scotsman:

     In other words, any Scottish supporter who had straw-clutchingly hoped for a fitness crisis in the All Blacks game has been disappointed.

   • 2007, Freya North, Pillow Talk, Sourcebooks Landmark, published 2011, →ISBN, page 105:

     However, in those heightened milliseconds of being able to circumnavigate the entire scene of her imminent destruction, Petra knows that her straw-clutchingly pathetic notion is far from the truth.

   • 2013 August 2, Michael Hogan, “The time is right for a female Doctor Who”, in The Telegraph:

     The half-hour show will be hosted by Zoe Ball and fans are already speculating that this could be a hint that we’re about to see the first female Doctor in the show’s 50-year history.
     That might be a straw-clutchingly tenuous theory but the time is certainly right.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:straw-clutchingly.