Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a fanciful manner; capriciously or whimsically; with curious prettiness or oddness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In a fanciful manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in a fanciful manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

fanciful +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • The Shulchan Aruch is arranged in four parts, called fancifully, "Path of Life" (_Orach Chayim_), "Teacher of Knowledge" (_Yoreh Deah_),

    Chapters on Jewish Literature Israel Abrahams 1891

  • To his credit, the former centre‑back, described somewhat fancifully as a Derby and West Ham "legend" at Derby maybe, but I think you have to play for a team longer than a couple of seasons to have legendary status bestowed upon you, smiled enigmatically, and swatted it away like he used to troublesome attackers.

    It's worth staying up, if only to avoid a night in with Manish | Martin Kelner 2011

  • He describes himself, perhaps fancifully, as a loyal oppositionist.

    Alexander Lebedev's office raided by masked police Luke Harding 2010

  • The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer fancifully suggested that the sexual desire of a man and a woman for each other was actually the desire of their future child to be conceived.

    World Wide Mind Michael chorost 2011

  • There is plenty for tasting, and over 150 different kinds of bread for sale, fancifully displayed in various forms, including those for the upcoming Days of the Dead.

    Calendar of Mexican food festivals 2010

  • I was tall and slender with long dark hair and a penchant for Anna Belinda clothes, and fancifully thought our bohemian style set us apart in our particular pocket of south London.

    Family life 2011

  • He was unaware of her gaze, and she watched him intently, speculating fancifully about the strange warp of soul that led him, a young man with signal powers, to fritter away his time on the writing of stories and poems foredoomed to mediocrity and failure.

    Chapter 20 2010

  • Tall, well over six foot, but a bendy, willowy uncertain tall, brown one-year sapling rather than slow growing sturdy branch, the tree metaphor extended by the catkins of his light brown dreadlocks, loose and shot with streaks of blondness denoting, she thought fancifully, the several summers he had lived through since he first grew them.

    Occasional sunshine Sandra Davies 2011

  • Courtesy Tal R and Victoria Miro Gallery, London/ © Tal R 'Science Fiction' 2011 Tal R's art—from his cartoon-like, often sexually explicit drawings that playfully consider the dark and absurd, to the almost child-like collages that mix and match medium and material without convention, to fancifully rendered narrative- and character-rich paintings, full of dramatic color—have made him a buzzed-about talent over the past decade.

    The Tell-Tale Art of Tal R Natalia Rachlin 2011

  • There is plenty for tasting, and over 150 different kinds of bread for sale, fancifully displayed in various forms, including those for the upcoming Days of the Dead.

    Calendar of Mexican food festivals 2010

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