playfully

adverb

as in friskily

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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 playfully Ranch appeared to take the World Cup by storm, at one point even drawing a response from the TSA, which playfully warned fans about bringing bottles out of the country. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 19 July 2026 The booking is the latest payoff in Riot Fest’s long-running tradition of playfully courting celebrities in addition to its fan-favorite music acts. — Lily Brown, PEOPLE, 16 July 2026 On these occasions, she’s often stolen the show while playfully interacting with cousins Prince George and Princess Charlotte. — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 13 July 2026 The account currently boasts almost 185,000 followers, with a video of Louie and Barley playfully wrestling generating nearly two million views. — Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 13 July 2026 His employees had posed playfully for photos over the body of a woman who had died by suicide. — Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica, 30 June 2026 The controversy began after Aiken playfully placed his hand over Ripa's mouth during a live segment. — Janelle Ash, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2026 Heck, even 78-year-old coach Dick Advocaat, the oldest man ever to coach a World Cup game, on Friday playfully suggested Curaçao’s best path to victory would be if Ecuador was down four players. — Kansas City Star, 21 June 2026 It's named after Gilded Age heiress Arabella Duval Huntington; her very captivating (and at times spicy) life is playfully chronicled in murals on the bar walls. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for playfully
  1. animatedly
  2. airily
  3. energetically
  4. buoyantly
  5. briskly
  6. skittishly
  7. lively
  8. crisply
Adverb
  • Alqasimi speaks animatedly about Alfred Hitchcock’s framing techniques in midcentury films like Rear Window and Rope, and the idea of withholding a complete view in order to sustain curiosity.
    — Mona Basharat, Architectural Digest, 25 June 2026
  • Last season Hustus handled more than 16,000 lobsters all while chatting animatedly with visitors from around the world—and often introducing them to their first tastes of lobster.
    — Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 June 2026
Definition of animatedly
Adverb
  • Still, while these surfaces are clearly meant to reflect deeper emotional and cultural truths, Coppola’s mining of them is done glancingly, airily.
    — Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2026
Definition of airily
Adverb
  • Plenty of his peers filled the void, none more energetically than Chesney, who has by now built a beachy brand that almost rivals Buffett’s.
    — Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 19 July 2026
  • There was also a large contingent of Iranian fans who energetically waved the nation’s current flag.
    — Todd Harmonson, Oc Register, 16 June 2026
Definition of energetically
Adverb
  • The song's interplay between choir and orchestra is buoyantly euphoric, opening a door to bolder, more intentionally progressive and soulful sounds in the country's mainstream.
    — Marcus K. Dowling, The Tennessean, 2 May 2025
Definition of buoyantly
Adverb
  • Smith Galer briskly gives us many reasons to accept the premise.
    — Nikhil Krishnan, New Yorker, 20 July 2026
  • Prosecutor Joel Seidemann strode briskly up the length of the courtroom’s center aisle with an accordion file under one arm and a line of eight younger colleagues rushing to keep up.
    — Laura Italiano, NBC news, 20 July 2026
Definition of briskly
Adverb
  • The horse, not sensing any guidance on its ribcage, begins to move skittishly in tight, concentric circles.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Feb. 2026
  • While skittishly edited, the film nevertheless builds up Faithfull’s biography in basic chronological order.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2025
Definition of skittishly
Adverb
  • Order a bottle of César wine – a lively dry white produced for the sister hotel in Lanzarote and only available through this collection of hotels.
    — Jonathan Samuels, TheWeek, 17 July 2026
  • One day, a young Jonah — lively as ever — jumped knee-first onto his father’s lap, in the wheelchair.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 21 June 2026
Definition of lively
Adverb
  • The Aston, on the other hand, dutifully and crisply responds to inputs.
    — Byron Hurd, The Drive, 23 July 2026
  • Sometimes the footage is blurred, as if Zidane is briefly underwater; other times it’s crisply focused.
    — Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic, 11 July 2026
Definition of crisply

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playful
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Cite this Entry

“Playfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playfully. Accessed 24 Jul. 2026.

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