sportively

adverb

as in playfully

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sportively
  1. playfully
  2. animatedly
  3. buoyantly
  4. airily
  5. skittishly
  6. lively
  7. briskly
  8. energetically
Adverb
  • He was hugged by Cale Makar and then playfully squirted with water by Landeskog as Hughes made his way past the bench.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The whole affair had a playfully casual mood, with Edwards casually eating his dinner while presenting the prizes and gleefully razzing the winners during their acceptance speeches.
    — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of playfully
Adverb
  • Bindi, now a mother herself, posted a touching video of Steve animatedly describing her birth.
    — Rachel McRady, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026
  • By the end of our call, Michael Sheen is animatedly sharing stories of his family’s (potential) UFO sightings in south Wales.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of animatedly
Adverb
  • The song's interplay between choir and orchestra is buoyantly euphoric, opening a door to bolder, more intentionally progressive and soulful sounds in the country's mainstream.
    — Marcus K. Dowling, The Tennessean, 2 May 2025
Definition of buoyantly
Adverb
  • Still, while these surfaces are clearly meant to reflect deeper emotional and cultural truths, Coppola’s mining of them is done glancingly, airily.
    — Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2026
Definition of airily
Adverb
  • The horse, not sensing any guidance on its ribcage, begins to move skittishly in tight, concentric circles.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Feb. 2026
  • While skittishly edited, the film nevertheless builds up Faithfull’s biography in basic chronological order.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2025
Definition of skittishly
Adverb
  • Fresh dill both in the filling and on top adds herbaceous notes that keep every bite lively.
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 17 Sep. 2026
  • The Windjammer The Windjammer is part restaurant, part legendary live-music venue, with a buzzy beachfront setting that keeps things lively well beyond dinner.
    — Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of lively
Adverb
  • At the offices, Karp steered me briskly past open-plan tables and upholstered nooks, past signage announcing corporate fun.
    — Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Bomgren suggested options such as cycling, rowing, or walking briskly uphill.
    — Danielle Zickl, HEALTH, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of briskly
Adverb
  • Molecules pooling close to regions that repel water can be forced into distinctive arrangements that are energetically costly to maintain, resembling pieces of a jigsaw puzzle pushed into patterns poised on the verge of scattering.
    — Mike McRae October 13, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The government once dedicated itself energetically to distributing homesteads or homes.
    — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of energetically
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.

Browse Nearby Words

sportive
sportively
sportiveness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sportively.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sportively. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of jilt

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All