How to Use writerly in a Sentence

writerly

adjective
  • In the midst of his grief, Hsu steadily builds a writerly self.
    — M.j. Andersen, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Too bad the writerly voice here is not as distinct, trying to say too many things at once.
    — Tomris Laffly, Variety, 22 Jan. 2023
  • And who better to present you with writerly gift ideas than staffers at a magazine?
    — Sarah Madaus, SELF, 8 Sep. 2022
  • Life is heavy, and the writerly task of conveying its truths can be equally weighty.
    — Oliver Munday, The Atlantic, 22 Aug. 2022
  • This accounts in part for his use of pseudonyms, which was not just a writerly device.
    — Christopher Beha, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2020
  • To my writerly cheer, there was even a young editor from Sydney.
    — Ryan Knighton, AFAR Media, 31 Oct. 2025
  • Hardy’s gotten some of that writerly nuance into his hits for Wallen.
    — Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2023
  • And Simon brought a writerly flair to smoothly rendered songs about romance among the well-heeled.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2022
  • Coppola relies on it as a serene spot to take writerly refuge, or to escape the world with family and friends.
    — Alison Syrett Cleary, Architectural Digest, 21 Apr. 2026
  • Writers block is a personal problem, not a writerly problem.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026
  • And soon Elizabeth starts doing weird things with rocks, a touch of mysticism that just looks like writerly quirk run amok.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 5 June 2019
  • Such writerly panache is the true saving grace of Mr Orange’s chronicle.
    — The Economist, 5 July 2018
  • Sontag claimed to have forgotten about him, but his vanishing is better explained on writerly grounds.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2026
  • Buyers at the very high end of the market may romanticize an aura of writerly brilliance but are less likely to pay much for it.
    — Kim Velsey, Curbed, 31 Jan. 2023
  • Its black-and-white line drawings are charming, and the writerly descriptions spout history, humor and wit.
    — Amy Merrick, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022
  • Work is work, and there’s writerly reward, too, in daily encounters with a diverse range of taskmasters across all social groups.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Aug. 2025
  • With few exceptions, writerly ambition tends not to operate at a grand level.
    — Geoff Dyer, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Switching from pen and paper to stylus and screen can feel like a betrayal of your writerly sensibilities.
    — Zoë Hannah, Popular Mechanics, 20 Jan. 2023
  • The play is stacked with laugh lines and Greenberg’s deliciously writerly digressions.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Later, her out-of-nowhere substance abuse strikes the viewer as a writerly attempt to find a new, more punishing lens through which to see a character.
    — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 9 Dec. 2021
  • But across the rest of the record, whether retelling or daydreaming, Hawke maintains a writerly attention to assonance and rhyme.
    — Caitlin Wolper Phillips, Pitchfork, 4 May 2026
  • The novelist’s scrupulous vagueness flows from a writerly decorum that Borrero doesn’t appear to share.
    — Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2021
  • He is mired in romantic and writerly self-doubt and spends his days corresponding with women who are similarly in limbo.
    — The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021
  • His cheerful admission of this writerly tactic presages not only the friendly tone of the entire book but also one of its shortcomings.
    — Timothy Snyder, Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec. 2011
  • Tevis also regained his writerly mojo, finishing four more novels and a collection of short stories.
    — New York Times, 23 Dec. 2020
  • Wild Reads is a club that will extend Cheryl’s readerly influence in addition to her writerly one.
    — oregonlive, 1 June 2021
  • Toni Morrison performed the classic writerly move of working on her novels before her children woke in the morning.
    — Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 8 May 2022
  • Particularly noteworthy is the writerly flair that’s actively present in the scripting, rich with a strong sense of imagery.
    — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 5 Jan. 2021
  • Her laughs at punchlines during Update always feels genuine, like her writerly taste offering approval.
    — Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 19 Dec. 2021
  • King, by then a mega-bestselling author, said yes immediately, mostly out of admiration for his friend’s writerly strengths.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2022

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

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