Deftly

Definitions: Deftly

Deftly

Adverb

1. With dexterity; in a dexterous manner; "dextrously he untied the knots".

2. In a deft manner; "Lois deftly removed her scarf".

Date "deftly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1200. (references)

Note: Deftly \Deft"ly\, adverb. [Compare to Defly.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Deftly

Synonyms: dexterously (adv), dextrously (adv). (additional references)

Crosswords: Deftly

English words defined with "deftly": clean ♦ Defly ♦ neat. (references)

Etymologies containing "deftly": Defly. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	You handled him quite deftly. (Citizen X; writing credit: Robert Cullen; Chris Gerolmo)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Araby deftly dropped a string of pearls into the mouth of the fresh-caught fish.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	A woman entered quietly and deftly where the first penitent had knelt.
Grapes of Wrath	Steinbeck, John	The dress came down to her ankles, and her strong, broad, bare feet moved quickly and deftly over the floor.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Deftly" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 99.38% of the time. "Deftly" is used about 161 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adverb (general)	99.38%	160	24,760
Noun (proper)	0.62%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	161	N/A

Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "deftly": deftly-sketched, deftly-timed.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "deftly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Chinese		灵巧地 (Dexterously, Dextrously). (various references)

Finnish		kätevästi (easily). (various references)

German		gewandt (able, adroit, adroitly, agile, alert, brisk, clever, deft, dexterous, dexterously, fluently, glib, glibly, handily, keen, neat, neatly, nimble, proficient, ready, skilful, skilled, skillful, skillfully, urbane, urbanely, versa, versus, voluble, volubly), geschickte (skillfully). (various references)

Greek		επιδέξια (ably, handily). (various references)

Hungarian		fürgén (agily, briskly, lightly, nimbly, swiftly, to ply sg), ügyesen (ably, adeptly, adroitly, capably, expeditiously, expertly, masterly, nattily, skillfully, sleekly, slick, slickly, to jink, to play one's cards well). (various references)

Manx		dy jesh (nicely, prettily, readily). (various references)

Pig Latin		eftlyday

Russian		искусно (adroitly, artfully, knowingly, neatly). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings
	"Deftly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dafty, Defcli, defthy, defty, destly, netfly. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "deftly" (pronounced de"ftlē)
4	-f t l ē	softly, swiftly.
3	-t l ē	abruptly, absolutely, abundantly, accidently, accurately, acutely, adamantly, adequately, adroitly, affectionately, alternately, apparently, appropriately, approximately, aptly, ardently, arrogantly, astutely, blatantly, bluntly, brightly, brilliantly, coherently, commensurately, compassionately, competently, complacently, completely, concomitantly, concretely, concurrently, confidently, consequently, consistently, constantly, conveniently, correctly, costly, courtly, covertly, currently, curtly, decently, defiantly, definitely, deliberately, delicately, desperately, devoutly, differently, difficultly, diligently, directly, discreetly, dishonestly, dispassionately, disproportionately, distinctly, earnestly, efficiently, elaborately, elegantly, eloquently, eminently, evidently, exactly, excellently, expertly, explicitly, exquisitely, extravagantly, exultantly, faintly, fervently, firstly, flagrantly, flamboyantly, flatly, fluently, forthrightly, fortnightly, fortunately, fraudulently, frequently, gently, ghastly, ghostly, greatly, hesitantly, honestly, hotly, illicitly, immaculately, immediately, imminently, impatiently, imperfectly, implicitly, importantly, imprudently, inaccurately, inadequately, inadvertently, inappropriately, incessantly, incoherently, incompetently, incorrectly, indefinitely, independently, indignantly, indirectly, indiscriminately, inefficiently, ineptly, infinitely, infrequently, inherently, innately, innocently, inordinately, insistently, instantly, insufficiently, intelligently, intently, intermittently, intimately, intricately, jointly, justly, knightly, lastly, lately, legitimately, leniently, lightly, magnificently, manifestly, militantly, minutely, moderately, modestly, mostly, motley, neatly, negligently, nightly, nonchalantly, obediently, overtly, partly, passionately, patently, patiently, perfectly, permanently, persistently, pleasantly, poignantly, politely, portly, predominantly, presently, priestly, privately, prominently, promptly, proportionately, prudently, pungently, quaintly, quietly, raptly, recently, reluctantly, remotely, resolutely, reverently, rightly, robustly, saintly, secretly, separately, shortly, significantly, silently, slightly, smartly, sprightly, stately, steadfastly, stoutly, strictly, stridently, stringently, subsequently, succinctly, sufficiently, sweetly, tacitly, tightly, transparently, triumphantly, ultimately, unfortunately, unjustly, unpleasantly, unsightly, urgently, valiantly, vastly, vehemently, violently, virulently, Whitely.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: flyted.
	Words within the letters "d-e-f-l-t-y"
	-1 letter: delft, flyte, lefty.
	-2 letters: deft, defy, delf, delt, felt, fled, fley, left, yeld.
	-3 letters: del, dey, dye, eft, eld, elf, fed, fet, fey, fly, led, let, ley, lye, ted, tel, tye, yet.
	-4 letters: de, ed, ef, el, et, ye.
	Words containing the letters "d-e-f-l-t-y"
	+1 letter: fetidly.
	+2 letters: fidelity, giftedly.
	+3 letters: defiantly, feudality.
	+4 letters: affectedly, definitely, infidelity.
	+5 letters: confidently, deceitfully, defectively, deficiently, differently, diffidently, fatheadedly, flusteredly, splayfooted, steadfastly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.