naughtily

adverb

Definition of naughtilynext
as in awfully

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of naughtily The outsize failings of the men in power demand a grand reimagining of the consequences of those failings, and Helen of Nowhere offers up, exhilaratingly and naughtily, a myth for the man who needs to be shuffled offstage one way or another. — Literary Hub, 18 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for naughtily
  1. awfully
  2. dreadfully
  3. terribly
  4. horribly
  5. disastrously
  6. atrociously
  7. horrendously
  8. insufficiently
Adverb
  • At that point, Biden’s talk of mandatory retirement for aging officeholders hit awfully close to home.
    — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Of course, the Mets would look awfully silly if Soto experiences another calf issue.
    — Will Sammon, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of awfully
Adverb
  • Although Yamaha has been dreadfully slow about bringing its motorcycles to India, the R2 made its global debut there this week.
    — Yamaha, New Atlas, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Made from 100 percent cotton, this lightweight number is extremely soft and a great option for dreadfully hot days.
    — Caroline Hughes, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of dreadfully
Adverb
  • You’re born in a place where women are treated terribly, or journalists are imprisoned, and those people need some luck.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
  • But things went terribly wrong while giving birth to her daughter.
    — Michael Collins, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of terribly
Adverb
  • Rather than heroic, these costly and horribly uncertain stunts come across callous and cruel.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
  • When their plan goes horribly awry, the couple is parted once again.
    — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of horribly
Adverb
  • However, enforcement – both statewide and nationally – is disastrously underresourced.
    — David Michaels, The Conversation, 18 June 2026
  • His high point will be long forgotten, disastrously undone by his successor to plunge the world into recession, if not depression.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 14 June 2026
Definition of disastrously
Adverb
  • That pattern stayed broadly consistent last season, when Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur’s goalkeepers performed badly, but not atrociously.
    — Michael Cox, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of atrociously
Adverb
  • The less said about Bryan’s horrendously gauche fuchsia-and-gold dress with puffy armholes and halter neck the better.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 31 July 2026
  • Too little regulation could allow the unleashing of devilish AI that might wipe us out or at least be horrendously destructive.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of horrendously
Adverb
  • Or… 2) Miami is insufficiently impressed and spends its likely very high 2027 first-round draft pick on a QB with the clear intent for the rookie to soon replace Willis.
    — Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Especially exciting to him was the German student movement, which combined support for liberation across the non-Western world with attacks on what the students considered the suffocating (and still insufficiently de-Nazified) Federal Republic.
    — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of insufficiently

Browse Nearby Words

naught
naughtily
naughtiness
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Cite this Entry

“Naughtily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/naughtily. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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