offhandedly

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 America is offhandedly disregarding science. Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 15 May 2026 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
  • In another, some $8,000 in high ticket merchandise was casually wheeled out.
    Carolyn Gusoff, CBS News, 8 June 2026
  • He was dressed casually, in a green suède jacket and black sweats, but his watch was heavily iced with diamonds, as was a chain around his neck.
    Heidi Blake, New Yorker, 8 June 2026
Adverb
  • Creative opportunities are also heating up, though money and friendship should not be mixed carelessly.
    Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
  • Additionally, boiling water can easily damage surrounding plants and grass if poured carelessly.
    Cori Sears, The Spruce, 4 June 2026
Adverb
  • Right now New York City’s system arbitrarily denies rent regulation to millions of tenants — like only covering buildings with six or more units built before 1974 that weren’t deregulated before 2019.
    Clio Chang, Curbed, 2 June 2026
  • The hundreds of thousands of people every year who have been clearing the legal requirements of adjustment of status cannot have their rights cut off arbitrarily.
    Cassandra Burke Robertson, The Conversation, 27 May 2026
Adverb
  • By her side sits her companion, Penelope Jardine, dressed comparatively informally in a loose-fitting shirt, trousers and a pair of scuffed espadrilles.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
  • The list of athletes who have a rule named in their honor, however informally, is brief and prestigious.
    Sean Gregory, Time, 9 June 2026
Adverb
  • Out in the high desert near Cabazon, my favorite stops are Hadley’s Fruit Orchards, home of the famous Hadley date shakes, and the whimsically Cabazon Dinosaur sculptors.
    Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
  • 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
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
  • He was seen firing indiscriminately into the crowd, the detective wrote.
    ABC News, ABC News, 12 June 2026
  • Guards pulled them out of their cages and beat them, leaving one with a bloody eye and another with a broken wrist, and pepper-spraying them indiscriminately, according to a filing by an attorney in the First Amendment case.
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 11 June 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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Offhandedly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/offhandedly. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.

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