archly

adverb

arch·​ly ˈärch-lē How to pronounce archly (audio)
1
: in an arch manner
2
: extremely
archly conservative

Examples of archly in a Sentence

an archly competitive young executive
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The new batch of six episodes, all written or co-written by its creator Charlie Brooker, reflects the full range of how the show has evolved to include new grooves — a mix of the horrific and the comedic, the hopeful and the nihilistic, the archly British and the sourly American. Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025 Repeatedly rising to the challenge of maneuvering through the film’s myriad plot twists and tonal shifts, McKellen is by turns imperiously hilarious, archly devious, forlornly melancholy and pathetically desperate. Joe Leydon, Variety, 13 Jan. 2025 In other contexts, Cooper and Carlson might have decried such an approach—an archly postmodern attitude in which all facts are relative, all orthodoxies suspect. Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2024 The gentrifying Reagan years that followed gave rise to archly analytic work addressing institutional power. Nancy Princenthal, New York Times, 16 May 2024 See All Example Sentences for archly

Word History

First Known Use

1712, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of archly was in 1712

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Cite this Entry

“Archly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archly. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

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