as in sharply
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 piercingly
His lashes are long, the eyes deep-set, large and intense, staring piercingly into you.
—
Touré, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
How could the woman who wrote so piercingly about women’s subjugation subjugate herself to not just one but two men?
—Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2025
Touré, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
How could the woman who wrote so piercingly about women’s subjugation subjugate herself to not just one but two men?
—Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for piercingly
Adverb
-
Coffee prices have been increasing sharply since the start of this year.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
-
The number of foreign residents has risen sharply in recent years, reaching a record 3 percent of the population in 2024, as Tokyo cautiously loosened visa rules for workers in key industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and caregiving.—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
In times of increasing cynicism and apathy in the zeitgeist, this phantasm extravaganza — at once humorously deadpan in its playful tableaus and poignantly sincere at its emotional core — feels like a breath of fresh air.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
21 Oct. 2025
-
These reminders, that rewards are built into our criminal-justice system while closure and peace are harder to come by, land more poignantly than the story of Gein’s outsize influence on Psycho and Alfred Hitchcock’s disappointment that audiences wanted more of it.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
In addition to getting calorically high and nutrient-dense whole foods such as fruits and vegetables, acutely malnourished people need therapeutic food.—
Mary Kekatos,
ABC News,
24 Oct. 2025
-
Japan and South Korea’s advanced manufacturing economies are acutely threatened by China’s weaponization of trade.—
Young Kim,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
Several testers found the monk fruit or allulose sweeteners (depending on flavor) tipped the drinks in a harshly herbal or saccharine direction, and found the high from the Uplifting Watermelon Lime flavor to be jarringly strong.—
Chala June,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
29 Oct. 2025
-
Tagovailoa was harshly criticized for his comments and later apologized, with many questioning the signal-caller's leadership capabilities.—
Matthew Schmidt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
Black parents are keenly aware of the social implications of existing inside and outside of Blackness.—
Jihan Forbes,
Allure,
29 Oct. 2025
-
Schwartzman keenly observed the change in technology and its influence on the music industry as an artist.—
Ilana Kaplan,
PEOPLE,
27 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
His most ambitious series to date, Pluribus can be seen as a corrective of sorts—a grand, artful, mind-bendingly philosophical, darkly funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but consistently humane vindication of our fractious species.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
27 Oct. 2025
-
Stone and Lanthimos have since worked together several times, and their collaboration, a mutual-favoritism society, has been hailed and sometimes reviled for its darkly exuberant sense of risk.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
The running game is a mess, Carson Wentz is often running for his life, and the defense proved distressingly vulnerable to big plays in last weekend’s 28-22 loss to Philadelphia.—
Pioneer Press,
Twin Cities,
23 Oct. 2025
-
And yet, distressingly, this early stage is too often where the lists of possible awards contenders start to get narrowed down.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
16 Sep. 2025
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
Cite this Entry
“Piercingly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piercingly. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share