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.
McDonald’s has been the object of social-media derision since a Feb. 3 video of its CEO nibbling daintily at the chain’s latest offering, the multilayer Big Arch.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
Not every collection is a success: a delicate red-orange shrimp daintily eludes the suction tube, swirling its long antenna as it swims almost triumphantly beyond reach.
From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026
At one point, she daintily wraps a piece of tulle ribbon around a raw fish carcass.
From Salon • May 16, 2023
In the age of social distancing, no celebrity profile can begin with the subject wolfishly striding into a hotel bar or daintily picking at a breakfast.
From Washington Post • May 14, 2021
Odenigbo was poking at the tray Richard brought; Harrison had daintily wrapped everything in silver foil.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
