DARKLY Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

darkly

adverb

Definition of darkly

as in blackly

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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 darkly Mulligan should win for her darkly funny, cringe-inducing turn, though Snook, Pidgeon and sentimental favorite Field are all in play too. — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026 More darkly, Musk implies Elon wants the vast data a Tesla can accumulate on its owners to feed his AI ambitions. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2026 That song’s music video is also darkly cinematic, showing Elizabeth playing with baby dolls in between sitting, bloodied, in bathtubs and on fainting couches. — Selena Fragassi, SPIN, 7 Sep. 2026 She’s played with a darkly enigmatic, unnerving quality by James in her finest work to date — a knowing, even domineering smile often curling around her lips. — Tomris Laffly, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026 His progressive pass zones, shaded most darkly near the halfway line in the opposition half, underline where Bard felt most comfortable passing from for Nice last term. — Beren Cross, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026 The incomparably salty and character-rich cast of Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine swept into Venice via water taxi Thursday to introduce the Oscar winner’s latest darkly literate comedy-drama. — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026 This book is like a children’s fantasy that has gone deeply, darkly wrong. — Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026 North by Northwest contains several of the most thrilling sequences in the director’s filmography, including the darkly comedic drunk driving scene, the showdown with the crop duster, and the climactic chase atop Mount Rushmore. — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for darkly

Adverb

What at first appears to be a run-of-the-mill trauma drama about a family dealing with the eldest child’s anorexia nervosa gradually evolves into something odder and more original, even blackly comic, in Ungrateful Beings.

— Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2025
Saadawi’s unabashedly political, blackly funny contemporary take on the mythos (superb translated by Jonathan Wright, who captures the wry humor and brooding, ominous rhythms of Saadawi’s dark tale) is, however, a true standout in a very crowded field.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 July 2024

Definition of blackly

Adverb

Museums abhor windows, so the building has all the approachability of a medieval keep, as gloomily defensive as the park is welcoming.

— Justin Davidson, Curbed, 4 June 2026
In Time Regained, the concluding volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, an older version of the narrator gloomily decides to attend a gathering at the Guermantes’ mansion.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026

Definition of gloomily

Adverb

The Vietnam War and Watergate had spawned a paralyzing sense of national distrust, and New Hollywood had reflected that reality beautifully but pessimistically.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 May 2026
For example, professors Morana Koludrovic and Franceska Delija at the University of Split in Croatia also make the point, more pessimistically, however, that the young can no longer learn from the old, not with all the changes in technology and media.

— Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 20 Feb. 2026

Definition of pessimistically

Adverb

The mother laughed, which made the girl slouched sullenly on her Icelandic glance back, and her mother brushed a hand over her face.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2026
Take, for example, Keanu Reeves, who was memeified after a photo of the actor sullenly eating a sandwich went viral.

— Ben Pettis, The Conversation, 3 Apr. 2026

Definition of sullenly

Adverb

As Business Insider‘s Joshua Nelken-Zitser quickly discovered, ChatGPT for Teens is failing pretty dismally at its goals at launch.

— Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 19 Aug. 2026
But for now, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer remains at a dismally low 13%, according to the American Cancer Society.

— Yuki Noguchi, NPR, 12 May 2026

Definition of dismally

Adverb

If exceeding delivery targets fails to spark a rally, meeting or slightly beating bottom-line earnings will likely be greeted glumly by Wall Street.

— Michael Khouw, CNBC, 20 July 2026
Three of the four arrived soberly dressed, one of them, Hodgkin, in a black suit, folded his arms and stared glumly ahead.

— Robin Muir, Vogue, 12 June 2026

Definition of glumly

Adverb

The movie’s strongest sequences provide the all-too-rare sensation of truly not being able to believe your eyes, as the film’s most fantastical elements feel distressingly real.

— Tiffany Kelly, Entertainment Weekly, 17 July 2026
The event was halted after an hour due to fears about her safety, which distressingly encapsulates a tension that the trans Mayan artist has navigated for years.

— Eugenie Brinkema, ARTnews.com, 14 June 2026

Definition of distressingly

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“Darkly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/darkly. Accessed 11 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of darkly

adverb

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