as in nicely
in a pleasing way
a sweetly silly summer movie
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Recent Examples of sweetly
Ella Stiller arrives as Patience, Valerie’s social-media guru, Jack O’Brien sweetly plays her new hairdresser, and Andrew Scott, doing the most to eradicate any lingering Hot Priest vibes, plays a wildly unctuous NuNet executive.
—
Jennifer Silverman, Rolling Stone, 29 Mar. 2026
Redmayne brings a sweetly doltish everyman energy to this increasingly off-kilter affair, with much of the dialogue between him and his co-stars (including Stratton-Twine as the missing woman’s slacker brother) improvised in disarmingly shaggy fashion.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 20 Mar. 2026
Stellan Skarsgård approaches and holds her hand sweetly.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 16 Mar. 2026
This native honeysuckle is a much better choice than the sweetly scented but invasive Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica).
—Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2026
Plants produce sweetly fragrant flowers from the growing shoot tips continuously from spring through frost, providing a constant supply of nectar for native bees and butterflies.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 17 Feb. 2026
Many love songs idealize; here, John Prine and Iris DeMent sweetly rattle off a list of each other’s endearing imperfections.
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2026
The poignant image is juxtaposed with flashbacks of them as children lying sweetly next to one another.
—Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 13 Feb. 2026
And so the players showed up brandishing hope for this summer while sweetly admitting the emotion that still lingers from last fall.
—Los Angeles Times, 31 Jan. 2026
Jennifer Silverman, Rolling Stone, 29 Mar. 2026
Redmayne brings a sweetly doltish everyman energy to this increasingly off-kilter affair, with much of the dialogue between him and his co-stars (including Stratton-Twine as the missing woman’s slacker brother) improvised in disarmingly shaggy fashion.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 20 Mar. 2026
Stellan Skarsgård approaches and holds her hand sweetly.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 16 Mar. 2026
This native honeysuckle is a much better choice than the sweetly scented but invasive Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica).
—Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2026
Plants produce sweetly fragrant flowers from the growing shoot tips continuously from spring through frost, providing a constant supply of nectar for native bees and butterflies.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 17 Feb. 2026
Many love songs idealize; here, John Prine and Iris DeMent sweetly rattle off a list of each other’s endearing imperfections.
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2026
The poignant image is juxtaposed with flashbacks of them as children lying sweetly next to one another.
—Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 13 Feb. 2026
And so the players showed up brandishing hope for this summer while sweetly admitting the emotion that still lingers from last fall.
—Los Angeles Times, 31 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sweetly
Adverb
-
Nasturtiums, million bells, trailing verbena and sweet alyssum also lend themselves nicely to the pots.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 Apr. 2026
-
The key is to find an unexpected pairing that contrasts nicely with your leggings.—
Jake Henry Smith,
Glamour,
6 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
Her work plainly belongs to this lineage of witchy writers, women whose deliciously corrupted scenes of home and hearth produce fear and wild laughter at once.—
Kristen Roupenian,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
-
These venerable Swiss houses represent peak legacy watchmaking, and their most expensive and rarest pieces tend to be deliciously complicated.—
Adam Erace,
Fortune,
4 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
The first stage features detailed instructions — a step-by-step guide, really — on how to assemble the vehicle or structure in question, but the latter two are delightfully vague.—
Ian Stokes,
Space.com,
5 Apr. 2026
-
The cakes people bake using her tutorial have been delightfully unhinged.—
Deena Prichep,
NPR,
4 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
One possibility that can’t be ruled out is the Red Sox could trade Yoshida, who has played great since last September but who has become an awkward roster fit.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
22 Mar. 2026
-
The Goldilocks-spec GTS epitomizes what makes the crossover great better than any other member of the line.—
Will Sabel Courtney,
Robb Report,
19 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
The United States does not produce enough of it to meet demand, so the US is importing it as well.—
Alan Gionet,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Scorpio October 23 – November 21 Certain truths are best expressed in metaphor or art at present.—
Tarot.com,
Baltimore Sun,
3 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month.—
Emily Temple,
Literary Hub,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Cate Blanchett, ‘Blue Jasmine’ (2014) Blanchett delivers an enjoyably tragicomic turn in Woody Allen's dramedy as a booze-swilling, Xanax-popping hot mess.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
10 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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Cats possess other features of their wild relatives in being basically carnivorous, remarkably agile and powerful, and finely coordinated in movement.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Some mowers are designed to finely chop the clippings.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
1 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
In a movie about two women who intuitively understand each other, Brandt and Trebs are charmingly oafish as men who are eager to fix a dishwasher but less keen on how to repair trauma.—
Jake Coyle,
Boston Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
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They are charmingly echoed in Paul Mellon’s Reflections in a Silver Spoon and Cordelia Drexel Biddle’s My Philadelphia Father.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sweetly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sweetly. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.
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