adverb
-
in a jaunty or high-spirited manner
-
in a light or delicate manner
Other Word Forms
- unairily adverb
Etymology
Origin of airily
First recorded in 1760–70; see airy, -ly ( def. )
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
Johnson talked of “our concerns with the governance of the state of California,” which he airily blamed for “complicity ... in the scope of disaster.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 5, 2025
Instead, it exalts vegetarian textures: tackily chewy barley, softly crunchy cashews, and airily crisp panko.
From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2022
When two newspapers reported he had accepted diamonds from self-proclaimed Central African Emperor Bokassa I, Giscard airily refused comment and stopped reading them.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 3, 2020
“A permit for you to initial, Director,” he said as airily as possible, and laid the paper on the writing-table.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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.
