as in artfully
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Recent Examples of cannily
Sections of the granite supports of the Keck statue are cannily manipulated and embellished with stars and swirling vortex-forms in Lithichrome paint into works of art themselves.
—
Horace D. Ballard, Artforum, 22 Apr. 2026
So begins a cycle of financial pressure, entrepreneurial hurdles, and major crimes committed out of desperation that cannily blurs the line between legitimate business strategy and the art of the con.
—Judy Berman, Time, 11 Mar. 2026
His presence is so recessive that the resulting footage, however cannily composed, looks, for the most part, like it was made by an unattended surveillance camera.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
The special’s opening half-hour is a series of meaningful opening salvos like this, cannily shoehorned into catch-up anecdotes, each of them laying the groundwork for where Nanjiani ultimately wants the hour to land without tipping his hand in one direction or another.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Although that self-realization is timeless, Roder cannily positions it to speak to contemporary times.
—Stephen Saito, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Rental Family cannily exploits its unusual premise to both comical and moving effect.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Horace D. Ballard, Artforum, 22 Apr. 2026
So begins a cycle of financial pressure, entrepreneurial hurdles, and major crimes committed out of desperation that cannily blurs the line between legitimate business strategy and the art of the con.
—Judy Berman, Time, 11 Mar. 2026
His presence is so recessive that the resulting footage, however cannily composed, looks, for the most part, like it was made by an unattended surveillance camera.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
The special’s opening half-hour is a series of meaningful opening salvos like this, cannily shoehorned into catch-up anecdotes, each of them laying the groundwork for where Nanjiani ultimately wants the hour to land without tipping his hand in one direction or another.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Although that self-realization is timeless, Roder cannily positions it to speak to contemporary times.
—Stephen Saito, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Rental Family cannily exploits its unusual premise to both comical and moving effect.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cannily
Adverb
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Although lemons make a beautiful kitchen centerpiece stacked artfully in a bowl, that’s not always the best place to put them.—
Alana Al-Hatlani,
Southern Living,
23 Apr. 2026
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Tradition and the present are artfully combined here.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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Scammers call older people, falsely claiming the victim’s bank account, Social Security number or other personal information has been compromised, Sorrells said.—
Emerson Clarridge,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
25 Apr. 2026
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All deliver explicit pornography and, in at least one case, a scam site falsely claiming a visitor’s computer is infected and advising the visitor to pay a fee for the non-existent malware to be removed.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
24 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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The authors took a deceptively simple approach, examining the correlation between racial diversity in a school’s cohort and graduates’ starting salaries.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
29 Apr. 2026
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Dig Deep—Literally HomeGoods shelves can be deceptively packed, and the best pieces are sometimes tucked behind others or hidden on lower shelves.—
Elizabeth Fogarty,
Better Homes & Gardens,
29 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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In that lawsuit, State Farm said that the record only showed a disagreement over the cause of roof damage, and that there was no evidence the company had acted dishonestly.—
Michael Copley,
NPR,
28 Apr. 2026
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Additional uses of geolocation data, the providers say, include proving a bettor is dishonestly disputing credit card charges, revealing sign-up bonus abuse or showing that someone is illegally making proxy wagers across state lines.—
Dan Bernstein,
Sportico.com,
16 Oct. 2025
Adverb
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Jacob goes to Isaac with this hairy disguise, deceitfully announces himself as Esau, and obtains his father’s blessing—much to the chagrin of his brother.—
Charles Preston,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
13 Mar. 2026
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To help fill their coffers even more, the lobbyists deceitfully expanded the definition of those notch years to include everyone born through 1926.—
Tom Margenau,
Dallas Morning News,
1 Feb. 2026
Adverb
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The big takeaway is that the cremation rate may be artificially inflated because of limitations on awareness, availability and legal access to greener alternatives.—
Tanya D. Marsh,
The Conversation,
24 Apr. 2026
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The filing is part of California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s 2022 antitrust lawsuit alleging Amazon artificially inflated product prices to protect its profit margins.—
Spencer Soper,
Bloomberg,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cannily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cannily. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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