shiftily

Definition of shiftilynext
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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shiftily
Adverb
  • 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
  • This has become the central theme of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City—probably the most chaotic show in its franchise—whose characters are always trying to root out which of their frenemies is furtively digging up dirt and spreading rumors about their legal or financial woes.
    Judy Berman, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • Filled with dark humor, Zhang’s satire slyly weaves in observations about race, privilege, and social media.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
  • In full costume, the guys slyly walk away with money bags without being made.
    Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 15 May 2026
Adverb
  • Cepeda’s adversaries sharply disagree.
    Catherine Ellis, Miami Herald, 28 May 2026
  • Gasoline inventories continue to fall sharply, declining last week to the lowest May level since 2014.
    Kevin Liptak, CNN Money, 28 May 2026
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
Adverb
  • 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
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
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
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
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.

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“Shiftily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shiftily. Accessed 31 May. 2026.

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