English

edit

Etymology

edit

semi- +‎ sweet +‎ -ly

Adverb

edit

semisweetly (comparative more semisweetly, superlative most semisweetly)

  1. In a somewhat sweet manner, but with an element of asperity.
    • 2007, Jim Ray Daniels, Mr. Pleasant, page 57:
      "Let's not and say we did," she said semisweetly— I didn't know her well enough to read her level of sarcasm.
    • 2010, Alison Kent, Wicked Games, page 122:
      Kinsey smiled semisweetly.
    • 2013, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Silence in Catullus, page 80:
      In this connection, a student of mine once described Catullus as like a lucid drunk: drunk just enough to tell it like it is but semisweetly, maybe bitterly, indeed a bit salty.