as in artfully
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Recent Examples of cannily
Sections of the granite supports of the Keck statue are cannily manipulated and embellished with stars and swirling vortex-forms in Lithichrome paint into works of art themselves.
—
Horace D. Ballard, Artforum, 22 Apr. 2026
So begins a cycle of financial pressure, entrepreneurial hurdles, and major crimes committed out of desperation that cannily blurs the line between legitimate business strategy and the art of the con.
—Judy Berman, Time, 11 Mar. 2026
His presence is so recessive that the resulting footage, however cannily composed, looks, for the most part, like it was made by an unattended surveillance camera.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
The special’s opening half-hour is a series of meaningful opening salvos like this, cannily shoehorned into catch-up anecdotes, each of them laying the groundwork for where Nanjiani ultimately wants the hour to land without tipping his hand in one direction or another.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Although that self-realization is timeless, Roder cannily positions it to speak to contemporary times.
—Stephen Saito, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Rental Family cannily exploits its unusual premise to both comical and moving effect.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Horace D. Ballard, Artforum, 22 Apr. 2026
So begins a cycle of financial pressure, entrepreneurial hurdles, and major crimes committed out of desperation that cannily blurs the line between legitimate business strategy and the art of the con.
—Judy Berman, Time, 11 Mar. 2026
His presence is so recessive that the resulting footage, however cannily composed, looks, for the most part, like it was made by an unattended surveillance camera.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
The special’s opening half-hour is a series of meaningful opening salvos like this, cannily shoehorned into catch-up anecdotes, each of them laying the groundwork for where Nanjiani ultimately wants the hour to land without tipping his hand in one direction or another.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Although that self-realization is timeless, Roder cannily positions it to speak to contemporary times.
—Stephen Saito, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Rental Family cannily exploits its unusual premise to both comical and moving effect.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cannily
Adverb
-
The farthest room from the common area, it’s artfully built around a colossal Cape Ash tree and features a giant deck, floor-to-ceiling windows with bird’s-eye forest views, and sylvan ambience galore.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
6 May 2026
-
Bieber’s face artfully dotted with globs of lotion.—
Lucy Feldman,
Time,
6 May 2026
Adverb
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Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer and defends a Black man who’s been falsely accused of raping a white woman.—
Melinda Salchert,
Southern Living,
10 May 2026
-
Cody Hayes/TikTok Scores of online companies are increasingly turning to generative AI technology to deceive consumers, falsely portraying themselves as struggling small businesses to charge a premium for lower quality products, an ABC News visual investigation found.—
Aaron Katersky,
ABC News,
8 May 2026
Adverb
-
Hand says that a couple of errors that can make randomly occurring patterns look deceptively connected.—
Faye Flam,
Scientific American,
7 May 2026
-
Where other A-list acts take a more-is-more approach with lavish setups and dazzling costumes, Eilish keeps her act deceptively modest.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
7 May 2026
Adverb
-
In that lawsuit, State Farm said that the record only showed a disagreement over the cause of roof damage, and that there was no evidence the company had acted dishonestly.—
Michael Copley,
NPR,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Additional uses of geolocation data, the providers say, include proving a bettor is dishonestly disputing credit card charges, revealing sign-up bonus abuse or showing that someone is illegally making proxy wagers across state lines.—
Dan Bernstein,
Sportico.com,
16 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
Jacob goes to Isaac with this hairy disguise, deceitfully announces himself as Esau, and obtains his father’s blessing—much to the chagrin of his brother.—
Charles Preston,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
13 Mar. 2026
-
To help fill their coffers even more, the lobbyists deceitfully expanded the definition of those notch years to include everyone born through 1926.—
Tom Margenau,
Dallas Morning News,
1 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
Any pivot toward diplomacy that includes sanctions relief — whether proposed in Washington or Berlin — ignores the fundamental Machiavellian truth that a regime hated by its own people cannot be saved by its external fortresses, but it can be artificially sustained by foreign gold.—
Liram Koblentz-Stenzler,
Chicago Tribune,
11 May 2026
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Right now, cities are starved of revenue because large commercial property owners are paying artificially low, outdated tax rates and that holds back local investment in schools, housing and infrastructure.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cannily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cannily. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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