SHIFTILY Synonyms: 47 Similar and Opposite Words

shiftily

adverb

Definition of shiftily

as in furtively

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shiftily

Adverb

At the combine, as executives and scouts furrowed their brows and furtively took notes, Mann and I stood on the concourse, watching team personnel watch prospects work out.

— Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 4 June 2026
Unlike Monday's burial for Princess Irene, which follows a Saturday prayer service in Madrid and a funeral Monday at Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, the Tatoi interment for Sofia's mother, Queen Federica of Greece, was not official, and took place almost furtively.

— Diego Parrado, Vanity Fair, 18 Jan. 2026

Definition of furtively

Adverb

The exhibition’s framing of Hamdi as the conscientious Orientalist feels slyly designed to disarm judgment of his work, and even to neutralize his professional misdeeds.

— Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 13 July 2026
The community had a tiny selection of English-language VHS tapes and DVDs, along with a VCR, which was passed around family to family, slyly at first.

— Eythana Miller, The Dial, 23 June 2026

Definition of slyly

Adverb

After the Women’s Health Initiative published its landmark findings in 2002, public and clinical attitudes toward hormone therapy shifted sharply, priming a generation of women to look for non-hormonal alternatives.

— Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 16 July 2026
Both states sharply limit non-competes, and California bans most outright.

— Sydney Lake, Fortune, 16 July 2026

Definition of sharply

Adverb

That virtue is undermined here by leads with minimal chemistry, one of them inexpressive and the other archly theatrical, by design if not to rewarding effect.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 May 2026
The show, which followed a crooked New Mexican lawyer, played by Bob Odenkirk, was an archly funny drama, shot partly in gritty black-and-white.

— Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025

Definition of archly

Adverb

As the only standalone English track of the album, its lyrics speak of a situationship so suspended in uncertainty that Selines craftily matched it with the sonic sensation of floating into outer space.

— Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
Some players struggled against the size of bigger and stronger players, while others craftily created space with deft footwork and manipulation.

— Devin Robertson, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2025

Definition of craftily

Adverb

The experiment is that AI is being made available nationally and globally, which is either overtly or insidiously acting to provide mental health guidance of one kind or another.

— Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 24 May 2026
Often nearly invisible to the naked eye, microplastics have insidiously found their way into people’s lungs, arterial plaques and brains through food, air and water, researchers have found.

— Kate Nishimura, Footwear News, 7 Apr. 2026

Definition of insidiously

Adverb

But cunningly, in the years since 1945—and responsibly and rightly, too—the United States put together a system where most of the other strong countries were also friends.

— David Frum, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026
Instead of kings and queens cunningly maneuvering their armies against their enemies, there’s only an ox of a man and a bald little boy, neither of whom exhibits a clearly superior intellect.

— Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Jan. 2026

Definition of cunningly

Adverb

Reaching the island is all part of the fun too, requiring you to hop aboard a vintage, slickly varnished wooden boat at Balmaha and schedule a pick-up time for the way back.

— Rosie Conroy, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Mar. 2026
Out with the clunky old 20th-century contractors making fighter jets, say Democrats and Republicans alike — and in with the venture-backed, slickly marketed, innovative new companies selling the silent drones, surveillance software, and cheap missiles of 21st-century combat.

— Ben Smith, semafor.com, 3 Nov. 2025

Definition of slickly

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shifted

shiftily

shiftiness

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“Shiftily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shiftily. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of shiftily

adverb

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