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1
: in an arch manner
2
: extremely
archly conservative
Synonyms
- achingly
- almighty
- awful
- awfully
- badly
- beastly
- blisteringly
- bone
- colossally
- corking
- cracking
- damn
- damned
- dang
- deadly
- desperately
- eminently
- enormously
- especially
- ever
- exceedingly
- exceeding
- extra
- extremely
- fabulously
- fantastically
- far
- fiercely
- filthy
- frightfully
- full
- greatly
- heavily
- highly
- hugely
- immensely
- incredibly
- intensely
- jolly
- majorly
- mightily
- mighty
- monstrous [chiefly dialect]
- mortally
- most
- much
- particularly
- passing
- rattling
- real
- really
- right
- roaring
- roaringly
- seriously
- severely
- so
- sore
- sorely
- spanking
- specially
- stinking
- such
- super
- supremely
- surpassingly
- terribly
- that
- thumping
- too
- unco
- uncommonly
- vastly
- very
- vitally
- way
- whacking
- wicked
- wildly
Examples of archly in a Sentence
an archly competitive young executive
Recent Examples on the Web
That’s essentially what happened when a Northern California man died in early December — a demise that his brother archly and elegantly recounted in an obituary published in The Times.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2023
The antebellum garb is an unmistakable Walker signature, but the scene is expressive and foreboding — not the archly comic and subversive work for which the artist is best known.
—Kriston Capps, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2023
That archly strangled locution, the ceaseless scorn: the vendor’s voice nags at the former Dean Street boy.
—Rachel Cusk, Harper's Magazine, 27 Sep. 2023
Barthelme wrote, for Texas Monthly, in an archly mocking response to McMurtry’s later essay.
—Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023
Emma Stone’s monster turn Poor Things Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos are back with another archly funny period piece about a bunch of kooks.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2023
But there's plenty to savor in this first season, including archly broad comic-book baddies, dopily creepy lore, and classic(ally silly) CW illogic—all of it wrapped in the comforting conventions of a teen soap.
—Alexis Gunderson, Chron, 1 Mar. 2023
Their exchanges often, too, featured an archly nerdy scientific patois.
—BostonGlobe.com, 28 Jan. 2023
The idea of the decadent rich getting their kicks by brutalizing the indigenous people of a poor country and getting away with it might be archly satirical.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'archly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1662, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Articles Related to archly
Dictionary Entries Near archly
Cite this Entry
“Archly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archly. Accessed 24 May. 2024.
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