offhandedly

Definition of offhandedlynext

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 offhandedly Sometimes, Academy Award-winning actress Sandra Bullock will offhandedly give you career advice. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 28 Nov. 2025 The tragedy side of things is addressed rather offhandedly — occasionally the movie will remember the boggling grief and betrayal at its center, only to shrug it off again just as quickly. Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for offhandedly
Adverb
  • Something casually exchanged could become strategically useful.
    Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 May 2026
  • The footage shows officers carefully opening the bathroom door before the confused bear casually strolls out and heads down the sidewalk to freedom while officers and bystanders scatter out of the way.
    Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 May 2026
Adverb
  • When Tel received the ball in his own half a couple of minutes later and lost it carelessly, there were a few groans from the home fans.
    Beren Cross, New York Times, 11 May 2026
  • During the pavilion’s preview, a brief but loud protest led by Russian dissident disruptors Pussy Riot and the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN might have been the most exciting thing to happen at the underwhelming and carelessly presented group show of live performance and video art.
    Fiona Sinclair Scott, CNN Money, 9 May 2026
Adverb
  • The constitutional principle behind that decision – that citizenship is a fundamental right which can’t be arbitrarily taken away by whoever happens to be in power – applies equally to how the government handles denaturalization cases today.
    Cassandra Burke Robertson, The Conversation, 24 Apr. 2026
  • This undermines our Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures — in other words, everyone deserves to drive without fear of being arbitrarily pulled over.
    Lauren Aung, Washington Post, 23 Apr. 2026
Adverb
  • Instead, the conversation tends to play out informally, among audiences and peers.
    Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 15 May 2026
  • Before the Twenty-fifth, Presidents had informally handed over power to the Vice-President during medical issues or temporary absences, but always voluntarily.
    Diego Lasarte, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Adverb
  • No landlord would allow an occupant to change his property without approval, let alone whimsically destroy a third of it.
    Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Something this rare — this pink, this whimsically named — had been thriving just steps away from a local community, entirely unrecognized until the survey team went out to look.
    Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 13 Mar. 2026
Adverb
  • Mara, Lisa and Astrid say bizarre and unsettling things, their cruelty and spite sometimes offhand, sometimes calculated.
    Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Apr. 2022
  • The Trolley Problem entails having to make difficult choices, contextually herein in the nature of driving decisions, and is often offhand dismissed by some as a misleading folly in the self-driving realm.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2021
Adverb
  • Innate defenses include everything from physical barriers—skin, mucous, gastric acid—to immune cells that can indiscriminately gobble invaders, as well as chemical signals that can swiftly ignite generic inflammation.
    Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 15 May 2026
  • The sounds grew louder, and soon armed and masked men were swarming the village, setting its straw huts on fire and indiscriminately shooting villagers.
    Annie Hylton, New Yorker, 14 May 2026
Adverb
  • Permits that are granted and withdrawn capriciously, tax credits that come and go, technologies that fall in or out of favor in successive administrations, and endless legal battles all amount to dangerous barriers to investment.
    Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 16 Apr. 2026
  • That standard would uphold the NCAA’s interpretation of the waiver rule so long as the NCAA didn’t act arbitrarily or capriciously, either of which is difficult to show.
    Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 27 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Offhandedly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/offhandedly. Accessed 18 May. 2026.

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