incongruously

adverb

as in inappropriately

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 incongruously Fightland feels incongruously sanitized throughout, without actually being appropriate (or engaging) for all ages. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 30 July 2026 Along beaches that had been stripped of their vegetation, icebergs sat incongruously high on rocks. — Megan I. Gannon, Scientific American, 6 May 2026 One side story, of a former pro athlete caught in a downward spiral of violence, addiction, and ill health, feels incongruously grim. — Judy Berman, Time, 11 Mar. 2026 What remains is an incongruously passive and intense ride that feels eerily algorithmic throughout. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 Jan. 2026 Every surreal interaction, every drab office, every incongruously adoring wife is another turn through the same loop. — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2025 Also incongruously quick for his size is Tustin junior defensive lineman Jeremiah Williams (6-1, 311). — Steve Fryer, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025 Where to Stay Recently opened and incongruously-located inside the city's half-glitzy, half-tacky Phoenix MarketCity shopping mall, Design Hotel by jüSTa is a quirky option from the creative team at Urban Studio in Mumbai. — David Jefferys, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incongruously
  1. inappropriately
  2. improperly
  3. wrongly
  4. incorrectly
  5. unsuitably
Adverb
  • The complaint says church officials knew Marroquin was communicating inappropriately with underage girls.
    — Brian Maass, CBS News, 8 Sep. 2026
  • Officials from both governments have traded barbs in recent weeks over whether China has been inappropriately stealing AI trade secrets.
    — Kevin Collier, NBC news, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of inappropriately
Adverb
  • But advocates of more protective parenting argue free-range parenting increases the risk children encounter danger and, in some cases, can result in neglect when children are improperly supervised.
    — Rachel Hale, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2026
  • OpenAI accused DeepSeek of using data improperly, Google claimed attackers tried to clone Gemini, and Anthropic suggested that Alibaba should be criminally punished for allegedly launching the largest-ever cloning attack on Claude.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of improperly
Adverb
  • Starting next year, Illinois will have new safeguards in place to prevent parents from being wrongly accused of child abuse or neglect when their children visit a doctor or hospital emergency room for unexplained injuries or ailments.
    — Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 8 Sep. 2026
  • But the hostility toward Jews was evident during the Dreyfus affair, which saw Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, wrongly convicted of treason in 1894.
    — Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of wrongly
Adverb
  • Similarly, the panel deemed Nottingham Forest were incorrectly awarded a penalty in their 2-2 draw with Liverpool for an Alisson challenge on Neco Williams.
    — Dan Kilpatrick, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Their teachers would suggest that all negative experiences are inherently growth opportunities, or that perhaps the person was meditating incorrectly.
    — Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of incorrectly
Adverb
  • The official investigation found no fault with either aircraft but that three planes had occupied the same airspace, which was deemed to have been unsuitably monitored over the Kharkiv region.
    — Colin Millar, New York Times, 27 June 2026
Definition of unsuitably

Browse Nearby Words

incongruous
incongruously
incongruousness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

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

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of patina

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All