deftly
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of deftly
Explanation
When something's done deftly, it's accomplished with style and skill. You'd be sure to impress your friends if you grabbed three grapefruits, juggled them deftly, and returned them to their bowl, all while carrying on a conversation. A physical or athletic act can be done deftly, or easily and well, but deftly can also describe something done with cleverness or wit, like a musician writing song lyrics deftly. The Old English word gedæfte, which means "mild" or "gentle," is the root of the word deftly, whose meaning still has that sense of doing something both skillfully and gently, or effortlessly.
Vocabulary lists containing deftly
Number the Stars
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Holes
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myPerspectives 9.1
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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.
Still, even when dealing with corpses, Walker’s characters can deftly deliver a one-liner or a bad pun when the mood needs lightening; she doesn’t really think along drama versus comedy lines.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
Apple deftly made the transition to Arm Macs because it controlled every part of the product: The chip, the device, the operating system, many of the apps, and the developer tools.
From Barron's • Jun. 2, 2026
The paint is slathered on the canvas, but deftly so; the individual slabs of color, for which he became famous, are almost like carpentry in a complex composition.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026
As this film so deftly proves, beauty and artistry have survived.
From Salon • May 1, 2026
He got up suddenly and Monique moved deftly out of his way, but she wasn’t quite swift enough.
From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper
Definitions 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.
