semisweetly

English

Etymology

semi- +‎ sweet +‎ -ly

Adverb

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.