1
as in brusquely
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2
as in grimly
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Recent Examples of gruffly
Rose’s relationship with her father, too, is unusual in its unresolved jaggedness, while Sisto’s gruffly on-edge performance points to a deeper well of adult pain in Wes that his daughter cannot yet manage or comprehend.
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Guy Lodge,
Variety,
8 June 2026
Chief among the familiar faces is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the stoic, gruffly professional explosives-disposal expert Major Will Tranter, who shows up at a construction site in the heart of London where an unexploded, 1,000-pound WWII bomb has just been found.
—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
23 Apr. 2026
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
8 June 2026
Chief among the familiar faces is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the stoic, gruffly professional explosives-disposal expert Major Will Tranter, who shows up at a construction site in the heart of London where an unexploded, 1,000-pound WWII bomb has just been found.
—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
23 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gruffly
Adverb
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Citadel executives brusquely dismiss the idea that anything shady is going on.
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In some instances, judges brusquely threw cases out of court after prosecutors walked in with little evidence.
Adverb
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Tuchel’s approach might, at least, be grimly appropriate for a tournament whose organizers would surely like everyone to focus on the action, and ignore the stench of corruption and xenophobia in the air.
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For her part, Gianina is just trying to stow away enough earnings to support her daughter, Maria (Sofia Dragoman), who lives with her grandmother (Liliana Ghita) in a grimly anonymous village in the countryside, and to save for an anticipated Christmas reunion in Romania.
Adverb
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But Ruben curtly responds that the only real homophobe is Niall himself.
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The Yangs were called in and curtly told the judgment was being overturned, their lawsuit dismissed without trial.
Adverb
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Burnout, by contrast, is a harder reason for many owners to say out loud, especially when the business is still healthy, and the outward signs of success remain firmly in place.
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Meloni was firmly in the fold at a late June meeting in Berlin with the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Poland.
Adverb
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Duenas expected sales to climb sharply in the weeks leading up to the tournament and said his customers are coming from all walks of life, including fans from foreign countries.
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Today, visitors can spot wildlife like bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets among the sharply eroded buttes.
Adverb
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While the city writ large is divided on Mamdani, Democratic primary voters strongly favor the 34-year-old democratic socialist who won in an upset a year earlier, according to Bradley Honan, a Democratic pollster.
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Where assortments were once strongly driven by trends, today the starting point is the customer.
Adverb
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Last week, the president abruptly canceled a housing bill signing ceremony, blocking the legislation from immediately becoming law.
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Once a promising middle-of-the-order threat with the Cubs, Morel's offensive regression intensified in Miami, ending the experiment abruptly.
Adverb
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The few street names in Happy Haven were determinedly upbeat, with Christian undertones.
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Wall Street has been determinedly upbeat about the war in Iran resolving in a relatively short window.
Cite this Entry
“Gruffly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gruffly. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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