You see a car in the ditch, abandoned after a collision. The car appears to be damaged. You don't know how damaged it is, though.
Would you drive that ____ly damaged car?
In other words, would you drive that car which is damaged to some unknown degree? It might be irreparably damaged, or it might be superficially damaged, but you are leery because you don't know enough about cars to tell.
Another example. You said something really mean to James. James appeared to be hurt.
My comment left James ___ly hurt.
He might be deeply hurt, or just temporarily hurt; you can't tell because he tends to hide his feelings.
It doesn't have to be a -ly word but I am looking for some kind of word or short phrase to put in the blank. Also, my bad if that's not technically an adverb–I'll edit the title if I'm using the wrong term for that.
The closest I've come is "ambiguously" but it just doesn't have the range or emotional care I want to express. It sounds like I don't care how bad it is, but I do care, and it kind of scares me that I do not know.
Does this word exist or do I just need to reword?
Best Answer
How about indefinitely?
Dictionary.com:
Your examples: