daintily
Americanadverb
-
in a way that shows fine or delicate manners or tastes.
She'd been nibbling daintily on a sparerib; now she dabbed her lips with a napkin.
-
with particular care to avoid soiling, spilling, damage, etc.; fastidiously.
We piled our trash daintily atop overfilled garbage cans.
-
delicately and beautifully, or with fine, exquisite detail.
I was glad for the moment to be neither an ornithologist nor an entomologist, so that I might leave every one of these daintily colored sunbirds and butterflies to the enjoyment of its life.
Other Word Forms
- overdaintily adverb
- undaintily adverb
Etymology
Origin of daintily
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.
On the second floor, women sat in front of vanity desks as make-up artists powdered their faces and daintily applied blush to the apples of their cheeks.
From Barron's
At one point, she daintily wraps a piece of tulle ribbon around a raw fish carcass.
From Salon
As Napoleon strolled into the dining tent, his chef quickly fried up the eggs from his steward’s pocket and placed them daintily atop the general’s feast.
From Washington Post
You see how Julie methodically, and with a hint of odd urgency, unpacks her luggage, and how Rosalind daintily removes a tablet from a pillbox.
From New York Times
The contrasts of blitz and delicacy are even greater, as daintily arranged string sections or screaming winds and brass appear and vanish at will.
From New York Times
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.
