Synonyms

sagely

American

[seyj-lee] / ˈseɪdʒ li /

adverb

with a knowing or thoughtful expression; in a way that suggests careful reflection.

By way of response, my father only puffed on his pipe and nodded sagely.
in a wise or judicious way; insightfully.

As someone has sagely pointed out, today's idiot will be tomorrow's beacon of truth.

adjective

Rare. wise or judicious; insightful.

A lot of people think that, like a sagely seaman who acquires wisdom and whiskers as his years trickle away on the sea, all traditions gain value as they age.

Etymology

Origin of sagely

sage ¹ + -ly

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.

Murakami gestures to the walls before him, nodding his head sagely.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

At one point, Mr. Loomis quotes his protagonist sagely predicting, “we’ll have a depression . . . and it will be the end of an era.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

Labour has nodded sagely at the urgency of the issue.

From BBC • Sep. 14, 2024

Mind you, those time slots never belonged to Lemon or Cuomo as media analyst and former CNN host Brian Stelter sagely observed in his recent comments about another axed cable news personality.

From Salon • Aug. 17, 2023

Engel nodded sagely in agreement, not while she was listening to me, but as she was repeating it to von Linden.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023