balefully

adverb

as in resentfully

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of balefully His family stared balefully at him, waiting for some alchemy to be performed by his hand, like those trips when he was somehow expected to navigate them through an unknown city. — Emma Cline, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2026 Among the innards and the great slab of white tail fat was the sheep's head, balefully gazing up at me. — Stanley Stewart, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Mar. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balefully
  1. resentfully
  2. enviously
  3. bitterly
  4. pitilessly
  5. mercilessly
  6. cruelly
  7. ruthlessly
  8. heartlessly
Adverb
  • His dreams are elsewhere, but his father is dying, so Joey has returned, resentfully, to take his station behind the bar.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Pacino had to leap and, eventually, resentfully, stand on a chair to spray-paint over the bank’s cameras.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2026
Definition of resentfully
Adverb
  • But what is a resort collection, or cruise as it’s sometimes called, other than an enviously Instagrammable trip?
    — Alexandra Hildreth, Vogue, 27 Apr. 2026
  • To put that further into context, Wrexham looked up enviously at all three for a decade from non-League until winning promotion in 2023.
    — Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2026
Definition of enviously
Adverb
  • Conservationists fought bitterly over whether trapping every bird should be considered rescue or surrender.
    — David Ginsburg, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
  • And the fourth was about how Bush’s advisers fought bitterly and were split on economic policy.
    — Bob Woodward, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of bitterly
Adverb
  • The season finale brings the various strands of the story together elegantly and a bit pitilessly, too, as the body count continues to rise and the struggle for survival grows genuinely desperate.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of pitilessly
Adverb
  • But there were more hilarious moments, the biggest being Tkachuk's full-on heel turn when the team showed a tribute video that got mercilessly booed by the crowd.
    — Matt Reigle OutKick, FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2026
  • This is no small feat in a city where working class locals are priced out mercilessly to make way for the ultra-wealthy here to work on their winter tans.
    — Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of mercilessly
Adverb
  • And, if Barisone was psychotically deluded, how was the jury meant to understand the defense’s central framing, which was that Kanarek had cruelly tried to harm Barisone?
    — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Hansen can be cruelly mocking towards his oft-flustered but extremely professional producer Andie Bender (an astonishingly good Merritt Wever).
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of cruelly
Adverb
  • The garment industry is ruthlessly competitive and manufacturers fear that any rise in costs or supply disruption could see orders shift to rival Vietnam, Cambodia, or Pakistan.
    — Charlie Campbell, Time, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Theorists such as Nick Bostrom have long warned that an advanced model might inflict immense harm by taking a human prompt too literally and pursuing its goal too ruthlessly.
    — NIALL FERGUSON, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of ruthlessly
Adverb
  • Victim Nyron Shaw’s father said the driver who mowed his son down last year in Ocean Hill a day before Independence Day should face the maximum penalty for allegedly driving twice the speed limit and heartlessly taking off, leaving his son to die.
    — Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026
  • In the process, Joel heartlessly killed some innocent people, including medical professionals.
    — EW.com, EW.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Definition of heartlessly

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baleful
balefully
balefulness
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Cite this Entry

“Balefully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balefully. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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