adverb
-
in a jaunty or high-spirited manner
-
in a light or delicate manner
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of airily
First recorded in 1760–70; see airy, -ly ( def. )
Explanation
When you do something airily, you do it in a casual, offhanded way. You might hide your excitement at meeting a movie star by airily saying, "Oh, hi." If you speak or behave airily, you give the impression that you don't really care. If a local politician responds airily to a citizen's legitimate concerns about crime, she's likely to suffer some criticism for not taking her constituents seriously enough. Airily comes from airy, originally defined as "with ostentatious air."
Vocabulary lists containing airily
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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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.
This led me to be very wary of people airily predicting that democracy was finished, and made me alive to the way that, paradoxically, such nightmares can actually damage democracy.
From Salon • May 7, 2025
I told my story light and airily, but it was heavy when it happened.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2024
Casually disdainful and airily patronizing, he is given tremendous gravitas by Harewood, a Black British actor cunningly cast against expectation as a white establishment figure who was taken to task for bigotry more than once.
From New York Times • Dec. 13, 2021
He was kidding on the square about being a streaming hoarder, and he’s got company among fellow celebrities, including those who used to airily claim they had time to make TV but not watch it.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 2, 2021
Taylor said airily, “Sir, I would assume that if we haven’t heard from the general it is obviously because he has nothing to report.”
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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.
