archly
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of archly
Explanation
If you say something archly, you express it in a teasing sort of way. When someone acts archly toward you, it might offend you a bit, or it might make you laugh. You act archly when you put on an affected style of speech, or say something that's playfully sarcastic. You might archly dismiss a teacher's criticism of your work or smile archly as you tease a friend. The adverb comes from the 1500s adjective arch, which originally meant "chief," but was so often used to describe a "knave" or "rogue" that by the 17th century it came to mean "mischievous" or "saucy."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He archly suggests that we adopt “botanical” instead of “astronomical” to describe mind-bogglingly large numbers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
As Ganz archly observed, “the word for the politics that makes a pastiche of past glories to create a new type of regime is ‘fascism.'”
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2025
Writing in Reforma newspaper, columnist Denise Dresser archly compared the election to a long-planned gala that no one attends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2025
The gentrifying Reagan years that followed gave rise to archly analytic work addressing institutional power.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
“It was a near thing,” Denna said, archly.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
