as in craftily
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
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 cunningly
Instead of kings and queens cunningly maneuvering their armies against their enemies, there’s only an ox of a man and a bald little boy, neither of whom exhibits a clearly superior intellect.
—
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Jan. 2026
Court filings from the former players allege how Lorch methodically groomed and abused children from some of the nation’s poorest communities, cunningly and cruelly preying on their desperation and love of the city game, on an almost industrial scale.
—Luke Cyphers, Sportico.com, 17 Oct. 2025
The complex portrayal wasn’t that far from Göring, who was the guy behind the guy atop the Nazi hierarchy who on the surface was a charming narcissist reputed to be a great dinner party guest, but was at heart a cunningly manipulative villain.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Jan. 2026
Court filings from the former players allege how Lorch methodically groomed and abused children from some of the nation’s poorest communities, cunningly and cruelly preying on their desperation and love of the city game, on an almost industrial scale.
—Luke Cyphers, Sportico.com, 17 Oct. 2025
The complex portrayal wasn’t that far from Göring, who was the guy behind the guy atop the Nazi hierarchy who on the surface was a charming narcissist reputed to be a great dinner party guest, but was at heart a cunningly manipulative villain.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cunningly
Adverb
-
Some players struggled against the size of bigger and stronger players, while others craftily created space with deft footwork and manipulation.—
Devin Robertson,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Aug. 2025
Adverb
-
Ripley, however, had slyly made the tag as Morgan hit the move, entered the ring and demolished Morgan with Riptide.—
Blake Oestriecher,
Forbes.com,
25 Jan. 2026
-
Rustin has slyly given her script a focus on women’s needs and feelings, a welcome departure for a genre that usually is more concerned about the men’s predicaments.—
Matthew J. Palm,
The Orlando Sentinel,
18 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
The experiment is that AI is being made available nationally and globally, which is either overtly or insidiously acting to provide mental health guidance of one kind or another.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
-
There have been more egregious Hollywood glow-ups than that of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring movies, but how many of those have also been so insidiously appealing?—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
4 Sep. 2025
Adverb
-
Gold and silver prices fell sharply on Friday, snapping a powerful rally that has seen the metals shatter multiple records this year.—
Lee Ying Shan,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
-
These winds will combine with dry, powdery snow to cause blowing and drifting snow, sharply reducing visibility and making travel hazardous even after snowfall rates decrease.—
Briana Waxman,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
Unlike Monday's burial for Princess Irene, which follows a Saturday prayer service in Madrid and a funeral Monday at Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, the Tatoi interment for Sofia's mother, Queen Federica of Greece, was not official, and took place almost furtively.—
Diego Parrado,
Vanity Fair,
18 Jan. 2026
-
This has become the central theme of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City—probably the most chaotic show in its franchise—whose characters are always trying to root out which of their frenemies is furtively digging up dirt and spreading rumors about their legal or financial woes.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
Adverb
-
Out with the clunky old 20th-century contractors making fighter jets, say Democrats and Republicans alike — and in with the venture-backed, slickly marketed, innovative new companies selling the silent drones, surveillance software, and cheap missiles of 21st-century combat.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Earlier this year, Tiffany Stratton, not very slickly, mentioned Charlotte Flair's three divorces during a promo ahead of WrestleMania 41.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Adverb
-
The scenes at the reunion are simply but artfully shot in black and white, including a revealing conversation the men’s wives and partners have about living with them that gently expands the perspectives brought into the film’s portrait.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
29 Jan. 2026
-
The model must know the rules well enough to know how to break them artfully.—
Amir Husain,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
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.—
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
Cite this Entry
“Cunningly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cunningly. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
