coyly
Americanadverb
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in a hesitant or indirect manner.
The painting shows an eighteenth-century lady flirting with a coyly blushing young knight.
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in a shy or modest manner.
She read the note and thanked him coyly.
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in a way that shows usually insincere or affected reluctance.
When asked about the movie, she coyly replied, "It's a big secret; I’m not going to tell anybody."
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of coyly
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.
After grilling Woodward about his sources and coyly asking him about Deep Throat’s identity, Traylor’s Graham asked him if the truth about Watergate would ever be revealed.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
The result was more coyly cute than imaginatively witty.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
The pair look at each other coyly, nervously giggling - there has been no announcement of Colman being involved in the films.
From BBC • Aug. 29, 2025
Usually, Mr. Modi avoids even using the word “Muslims,” coyly finding ways to refer indirectly to India’s largest minority group, of 200 million people.
From New York Times • Apr. 22, 2024
In the same period, there was a burgeoning international trade in the devastating non-nuclear weapons coyly called “conventional.”
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
