daintily
Americanadverb
-
in a way that shows fine or delicate manners or tastes.
She'd been nibbling daintily on a sparerib; now she dabbed her lips with a napkin.
-
with particular care to avoid soiling, spilling, damage, etc.; fastidiously.
We piled our trash daintily atop overfilled garbage cans.
-
delicately and beautifully, or with fine, exquisite detail.
I was glad for the moment to be neither an ornithologist nor an entomologist, so that I might leave every one of these daintily colored sunbirds and butterflies to the enjoyment of its life.
Other Word Forms
- overdaintily adverb
- undaintily adverb
Etymology
Origin of daintily
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She gave the guts to Gelifen, who took them daintily from her hand.
From Literature
Not every collection is a success: a delicate red-orange shrimp daintily eludes the suction tube, swirling its long antenna as it swims almost triumphantly beyond reach.
From Barron's
“Well, thanks very much! You’re awfully kind, Lady C,” he said, and curtsied as daintily as he could.
From Literature
On the second floor, women sat in front of vanity desks as make-up artists powdered their faces and daintily applied blush to the apples of their cheeks.
From Barron's
The creature daintily stepped into it, smiling shyly up at Jack as his grandfather walked over.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
