deftly
When something's done deftly, it's accomplished with style and skill. You'd be sure to impress your friends if you grabbed three grapefruits, juggled them deftly, and returned them to their bowl, all while carrying on a conversation.
A physical or athletic act can be done deftly, or easily and well, but deftly can also describe something done with cleverness or wit, like a musician writing song lyrics deftly. The Old English word gedæfte, which means "mild" or "gentle," is the root of the word deftly, whose meaning still has that sense of doing something both skillfully and gently, or effortlessly.
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in a deft manner“Lois deftly removed her scarf”
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with dexterity; in a dexterous mannersynonyms: dexterously, dextrously
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Vocabulary lists containing deftly
During World War II, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her family take part in a courageous effort to protect the Jewish citizens of Denmark from the Nazis.
In this comic adventure, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile detention center where the inmates spend their days digging mysterious holes. But what on earth are they looking for?
