exquisitely

[ ik-skwiz-it-lee, ek-skwi-zit-lee ]

adverb

1. excellently, especially in a way that shows extreme refinement or elegance:

   The scenic design is gorgeous, and the show is exquisitely lit.

   Under the tree stands a group of exquisitely sculpted Buddhas.

2. to a degree that is exceptional or extraordinary:

   String theory suggests that the universe is created by the vibrations of exquisitely tiny superstrings in ten spatial dimensions.

3. to an extreme degree; intensely:

   Until that point, I had not heard the details of my students’ exquisitely personal stories of the experience of war.

   The ocean swim was truly invigorating, and I felt exquisitely alive.

4. showing keen sensitivity:

   The blood-brain barrier is a network that exquisitely controls the movement of cells and molecules between the blood and the fluid that surrounds the brain.

Other Words From

• su·per·ex·quis·ite·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of exquisitely¹

exquisite ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

His 2018 debut, “If I Know Me,” had two exquisite hit singles, the lonesome “Whiskey Glasses” and the lonesomer “Chasin’ You.”

From Washington Post

His book One Long River of Song is the most exquisite essay collection I’ve ever read.

From Outside Online

By combining their signals using a powerful technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry, we can pinpoint the position of a signal with exquisite accuracy, such as to a single star.

From Singularity Hub 

DeVonta Smith, the out-of-this-world wide receiver who was named Associated Press national player of the year, roamed the field to complete tasks of exquisite difficulty — or sometimes just roamed the field with a football.

From Washington Post

A month later, in February 1974, a small, exquisite painting by Vermeer called “The Guitar Player” was stolen from Kenwood House, a museum in Hampstead, England.

From Washington Post

He was highly perceptive and exquisitely sensitive to everything around him.

From The Daily Beast

The former is an exquisitely calibrated product of American liberalism, ever attentive to such notions as “inclusiveness.”

From The Daily Beast

Any ad invoking that tragedy would have to be exquisitely sensitive and carefully crafted.

From The Daily Beast

I had watched her shoot up into a slender but exquisitely formed woman from a frail, awkward child.

From The Daily Beast

Her tender face bent in compassion over a marble form so exquisitely pure that I knelt and signed myself.

From The Daily Beast

So exquisitely were the two woven together that you could hardly tell where the one left off and the other began.

From Project Gutenberg

But she was an exquisitely pretty and engaging little thing, a grand little pal, and worth cultivating.

From Project Gutenberg

And I thank God, who gave me the temper to feel grief exquisitely, that he at the same time gave me an equal capacity for joy.

From Project Gutenberg

These poems, of a savour so exquisitely strange, cost him no more than any badly rhymed commonplace.

From Project Gutenberg

For above the beat of the rain and the shrill whine of the wind came a strain of music, mournful, yet exquisitely beautiful.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• appealingly
• attractively
• charmingly
• delightfully
• elegantly
• gorgeously
• gracefully
• handsomely
• magnificently
• seductively
• splendidly
• sublimely
• superbly
• tastefully
• wonderfully