archness

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.

But what I remember most is the laugh, which Posey’s Irene used as a weapon to defuse someone’s plastic-surgery joke, deploying it with performative archness — as if Irene watched herself laugh.

From New York Times • Dec. 4, 2023

Fukuhara’s extra beats between lines, slow-forming, knowing smiles, and general get-me-away-from-these-philistines archness rescue mediocre jokes before her quick bursts of ebullience remind us that Nancy would rather make over her wardrobe-challenged classmates than mock them.

From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2023

Now, they are buzzing with memes, videos and messages of congratulation, but also a strain of sceptical archness.

From BBC • Oct. 24, 2022

If you’re worried that your manner might betray your anxiety, practice adopting a slightly artificial archness of tone, so you have something to focus and distract you.

From Slate • Sep. 24, 2020

“Well,” Lenina enquired, with significant archness when they met next afternoon on the roof, “did you think it was fun yesterday?”

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley