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
The show, which followed a crooked New Mexican lawyer, played by Bob Odenkirk, was an archly funny drama, shot partly in gritty black-and-white.
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Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
Much as Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos have plumbed Dafoe’s deliciously wicked sense of humor in pieces that straddle the line between the real and the archly stylized, Solnicki understands that a strong Dafoe performance must always teeter between the two.
—Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 28 Sep. 2025
Emily Gilmore, Gilmore Girls’ archly funny matriarch.
—Maggie McGrath, Forbes.com, 30 July 2025
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
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Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
Much as Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos have plumbed Dafoe’s deliciously wicked sense of humor in pieces that straddle the line between the real and the archly stylized, Solnicki understands that a strong Dafoe performance must always teeter between the two.
—Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 28 Sep. 2025
Emily Gilmore, Gilmore Girls’ archly funny matriarch.
—Maggie McGrath, Forbes.com, 30 July 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for archly
Cite this Entry
“Archly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archly. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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