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# drily

«drily» in Mova's school dictionary: **In a funny way that seems serious, with a straight face…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adverb

### meaning for a pupil

1) In a funny way that seems serious, with a straight face (dry humour). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#m1)

2) In a dry way, without water or wetness (rare). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories it is a speech adverb: someone says something drily when they make a quiet joke or a sarcastic remark; in British humour, dry wit is common; phrases: «said drily», «remarked drily».

### examples

- «Oh, brilliant,» said Dad drily, as the rain came down on our picnic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x1)
- «Lovely weather for ducks,» Grandpa remarked drily. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x2)
- She smiled drily at his excuse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x3)
- «I'm sure the homework ate itself,» the teacher said drily. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x4)
- He answered drily, without a smile. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x5)
- The comedian spoke drily, which made it even funnier. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x6)
- ‘Top Off,’ said the Cat drily. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/#x7)

### note

Also spelled «dryly» (more common in US English). From dry. Dry humour means jokes told in a calm, serious voice.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «drily» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/drily/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.