How to Use sprightly in a Sentence

sprightly

adjective
  • The drop takes off like a rocket launch with sprightly synths and a gritty bassline.
    — Kat Bein, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2017
  • But none of this sitting-around stuff for this sprightly 58-year-old.
    — Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun, 11 May 2022
  • And the zoo has a sprightly 5-year-old boy to thank for his safe recovery.
    — Scottie Andrew, CNN, 16 Oct. 2020
  • Mixed-race children are not always born with lighter skin, hazel eyes, or loose, sprightly curls.
    — Yaminah Mayo, Glamour, 20 Sep. 2018
  • Then a small and sprightly young man bounded up to me, seemingly out of nowhere.
    — Julie Beck, The Atlantic, 23 Feb. 2018
  • Or her sprightly name, more suitable to a field hockey roster.
    — Karen Heller, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2019
  • With this cast and this ensemble, these songs don’t sound like sprightly showtunes.
    — Christopher Arnott, courant.com, 7 Oct. 2021
  • The bigger spoils flow from sprightlier businesses that know how to crunch data.
    — The Economist, 31 May 2018
  • Flora felt a brimming lightness, her sprightly grin restored, a new swing in her step.
    — Fiona Donovan, Vanity Fair, 30 Dec. 2025
  • Its compound of the hearty and the sprightly was an embarrassment.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2019
  • Yes, our sprightly magazine has just turned a youthful 90 years old.
    — Clifton Leaf, Fortune, 20 Jan. 2020
  • The former president, then a sprightly 58, had rolled back the years.
    — CNN, 4 Aug. 2021
  • Their sprightly first waltz suggests their pleasure both to be in human form and to be protected by the prince and his men.
    — Alastair MacAulay, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2016
  • And so are the film’s visual palette, period re-creation and sprightly score.
    — Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 9 Dec. 2021
  • The lush disco-house track conjures cheer and cheesy smiles with its sprightly groove and twinkling, arpeggiated synths.
    — Kat Bein, Billboard, 25 Oct. 2019
  • But the sprightly nature of the tunes and arrangements means the melancholy of the words is only part of the story.
    — Mark Richardson, WSJ, 5 Sep. 2022
  • The dish is echoed by the book’s sprightly Asparagus Cups on page 173.
    — Jessica Yadegaran, The Mercury News, 1 Sep. 2019
  • Apple did it in a sprightly 31 years, but that was still four times slower than bitcoin, which clocked in at about seven years.
    — Stephen Gandel, Philly.com, 24 Oct. 2017
  • This might seem strange given that NASA itself is a sprightly fifty-eight.
    — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, 3 Nov. 2016
  • As Pruitt peeled open a can of Friskies, Popcorn was suddenly sprightly.
    — Christine Condon, Baltimore Sun, 6 July 2022
  • As a sprightly, friendly-looking woman burst out from behind the screen door, our landlord abruptly wheeled his chair away from us.
    — Oanh Ngo Usadi, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 May 2018
  • In the fourth variation, Prokofiev takes the sprightly rhythms of the opening theme’s first three notes and spins them into gossamer.
    — Barbara Jepson, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2017
  • The pair of singers released the sprightly track alongside a performance video, featuring the duo backed by a four-person band.
    — Tamar Herman, Billboard, 3 Nov. 2017
  • But Magda Haroun, a sprightly 65-year-old, wants to keep their memories alive.
    — The Economist, 5 Sep. 2017
  • It’s filled with colorful side characters, like the sprightly Pinky, whose zest for life has not been tempered by her own past tragedies.
    — Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2024
  • Black beans are mixed with hearts of palm, roasted red peppers, diced avocado and white onion for a sprightly blend in a cumin- and cilantro-spiked vinaigrette.
    — Julie Giuffrida, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2022
  • Sprightly seniors — some sporting canes — trudged along the trail and a small grounds crew mowed the grassy fields in preparation for a bustling afternoon of youth sports.
    — Zak Koeske, chicagotribune.com, 14 June 2017
  • At Dries Van Noten, they were embellished and covered in sprightly floral prints.
    — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 12 Nov. 2025
  • Leading the pack is its title track, a low-key groover with sprightly keys and the softest touch of acid that can nudge any on-the-fence newcomers in the right direction.
    — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 5 Sep. 2019
  • We have been conditioned to believe that with a clock’s tick on one particular midnight, a bent old man hands the baton of time to a sprightly cherub in a top hat.
    — New York Times, 30 Dec. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sprightly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: