brightly

adverb

Definition of brightlynext
1
as in bright
in a manner marked by the shining or reflecting of much light the light glowed brightly

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheerfully
in a cheerful or happy manner "And how are we today?" the nurse asked brightly

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in colorfully
in a manner that is colorful and tends to arouse gaiety parade marchers carrying brightly painted banners

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of brightly In Los Angeles, for example, there’s a billboard that shows an image of a smiling girl wearing Meta glasses, with her fingers placed to draw attention to the recording light that shines as brightly as her grin. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026 All three are in brightly colored dresses intertwined with flowers, birds, trees and mountains. — Eileen Finan, PEOPLE, 26 Aug. 2026 The cliffside village, filled with brightly colored houses and steep winding streets, is right out of a storybook. — Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 25 Aug. 2026 Though the building is clearly old (it was built in 1913), its shutters are a curiously contemporary shade of blue, sitting brightly next to the terra-cotta roof. — Megan Rose Murray, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Aug. 2026 In a little more than a month, fall will begin, bringing cooler weather and brightly colored leaves to Pittsburgh. — Mariyam Muhammad, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026 At the time of her disappearance, Haleigh Murphy was 5 feet tall and 130 pounds, with short platinum blonde hair, hazel eyes, and multiple brightly colored tattoos. — Dateline Nbc, NBC news, 20 Aug. 2026 Much of the moon may take on a rusty red hue, while a thin sliver remains brightly illuminated. — Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 20 Aug. 2026 The flower, Cymbidium serratum, has green petals but a brightly colored lip, or labellum, which is sweet, a tasty treat for the wild mountain mouse. — Literary Hub, 20 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brightly
  1. luminously
  2. cheerfully
  3. colorfully
  4. happily
Adverb
  • Japan has selected Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s luminously cerebral French-language feature All of a Sudden as its submission for the best international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards.
    — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Others are luminously, freakishly beautiful, in ways that seem designed to appeal to beings from other solar systems.
    — Rosa Lyster, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026
Definition of luminously
Adverb
  • Wagoner eventually recovers and the two cheerfully finish the song to applause.
    — Stephanie Vander Wel, The Conversation, 28 Aug. 2026
  • At the top end, suites are spacious and cheerfully appointed, with smartly outfitted living rooms, double sinks in the bathrooms, robes, and patterned ceramics.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of cheerfully
Adverb
  • All this scattershot world-building and world-visiting allows for some colorfully diverting vignettes, in which production designer Alexandra Walker and costume designer Ann Maskrey get to show off their giddy, gaudy wares.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 22 Aug. 2026
  • The sitting room is painted in Farrow & Ball’s blush Setting Plaster and paired colorfully with a sage-green corduroy sofa and a chintz secondhand armchair.
    — Katharine Sohn, Architectural Digest, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of colorfully
Adverb
  • Spending more time crafting weak-salsa anti-Latino jokes than improving the lives of Latinos — that’s the racist swamp the president and his team happily fester in.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Leaving him was necessary, and the woman is now happily remarried.
    — David H. Rosmarin, Time, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of happily

Browse Nearby Words

bright-line
brightly
brightness
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Cite this Entry

“Brightly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brightly. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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