dryly
Britishadverb
Explanation
If you say something dryly, you say it in a funny but matter-of-fact way. Your friend's dryly humorous comments might be your favorite thing about watching soap operas with him. People who joke or remark dryly have a straight-faced delivery, even as they are saying the funniest things. You could also describe a black comedy as being dryly funny, or a character in a book as narrating dryly. The adverb dryly comes from dry, which more commonly means "not wet" than "subtly humorous" — although the humor meaning dates from the early 15th century.
Vocabulary lists containing dryly
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.
For Fielder, who is equal parts lovably strange and dryly hilarious, offsetting other people’s discomfort can be a sizable task.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
“Which I took as a no,” he says, dryly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
She adopted more subtle phrasing, with a voice that bears a resemblance to the dryly piercing tone of Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Gates paused before responding dryly: “Anyway, not everything is wrong with America, according to me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
“A deus ex machina, then, in a double sense,” said Dr. Calvin, dryly.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
