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variants
or less commonly gayly
: in a gay manner : marked by gaiety
Synonyms
Examples of gaily in a Sentence
we sat around the table, gaily teasing each other and laughing about the good old days
children gaily running to the buses on the last day of school
Recent Examples on the Web
The sunlight through the café windows moved gaily and bounced.
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Kevin Barry, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Cicadas thrummed gaily, fields shimmered with bird and insect life.
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Joyce Carol Oates, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023
The butterflies enter first, quivering gaily atop their sticks.
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Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2023
Keep us gaily making pins!
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Kim Phillips-Fein, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2023
Passengers stood at the windows, waving gaily.
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Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2021
With the Meyerson gaily festooned for the holiday season, there were lighting effects and some projections.
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Dallas News, 26 Nov. 2022
All the elements to the left of plutonium in the periodic table are quite willing to share electrons with each other, gaily forming compounds hither and thither; the elements to the right, far less so.
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Valerie Brown, Discover Magazine, 28 Sep. 2018
The movie is a beastly thing, and proud of it—a gaily sadistic kerfuffle, from which all traces of tenderness have been expunged.
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Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gaily.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English gayly, from gay gay entry 1 + -ly -ly entry 2
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of gaily was
in the 14th century
Dictionary Entries Near gaily
Cite this Entry
“Gaily.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaily. Accessed 5 Jul. 2024.
Kids Definition
gaily
adverb
gai·ly
variants
also gayly
ˈgā-lē
1
: in a merry or lively way
2
: in a bright or showy way
gaily dressed crowds
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