as in artfully
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Recent Examples of cannily
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
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
-
Piled on or artfully peeled away.—
Samantha Conti,
Footwear News,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Each villa also offers Pacific Ocean views, a private infinity-edge pool (artfully positioned into the hillside while also attached to the home), a large terrace, and a kitchen stocked with KitchenAid appliances.—
Erika Owen,
Architectural Digest,
24 Feb. 2026
Adverb
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Windward cited widespread navigation disruption near Iran’s Bandar Abbas port, with ships falsely appearing at airports, a nuclear power plant and inland locations.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
1 Mar. 2026
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According to the university, the agents who went to Aghayeva’s building had falsely identified themselves as police.—
Jane Bua,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
Adverb
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The deceptively low-key humor of Demetri Martin was once labeled nerdy or alternative, given his smart one-liners, on-stage drawings and overall subtly.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
5 Mar. 2026
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Her deceptively simple black slip dress with a huge slit?—
Meg Walters,
InStyle,
4 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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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
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As naive as that may sound in a world where so many self-evident rights and wrongs are being routinely, dishonestly evaluated and reevaluated, the series elevates simple truths in ways that are downright inspirational.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
4 Aug. 2025
Adverb
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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
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But through no fault of the actress, the film starts to sag as Erika morphs from intoxicating vixen to deceitfully manipulative monster.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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In a chaotic and unpredictable world, somebody with artificially TV-friendly looks stands in front of a map that isn’t there and attempts to prognosticate the unknowable future.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Feb. 2026
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In each of the commercials, ordinary people seeking advice from an artificially-sounding person standing in for the AI chatbot were interrupted by unwarranted advertisements.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
19 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cannily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cannily. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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