steely
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Real-life proprietor Andrea Pruett, a sweet but steely Southerner who kept her own gun behind the counter, greeted them in French and German, then fed them buffalo burgers and omelets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Price delivers “Oval Room” with the same steely, straight-ahead tone that Foley had, offering a very faithful reading of the original — but that’s not meant as an insult or a diminishment of Price’s approach.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
Whether he was playing steely but likeable heroes or a chillingly menacing villains, Neill was one of the most versatile stars in the film industry and always commanded attention on screen.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
The Knicks’ steely defense held Victor Wembanyama to just 3 points in the fourth quarter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
In the gray and steely morning light, the evening before now looked like a childish fantasy.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
But I find it hard to conceive that the image her leadership so desperately courts—a renegade broadcast company, steelier, rawer, and ineffably realer than its competitors—will ever take hold.
From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2026
Only when the topic of the closure came up did the owner’s friendly manner shift into something steelier.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2023
His music looked back to the not-so-distant days of psychedelia and the Velvet Underground, but it was leaner, tauter, steelier.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
But Stephen Wallace is made of steelier stuff than most.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2021
Slowly, as they kept talking, his face got steelier and steelier.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
There’s something about this storied tournament that can make even the steeliest of players weak in the knees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Russians are famously great chess players, yet there are moments when even the steeliest grandmasters find their initial advances on the board blocked and must adjust strategy.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2022
The work can bring some of the steeliest to crumble.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2021
Ah, the smile of Kirk: one of the steeliest blades in cinema, unrusted by the years.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 9, 2016
His job is war-work of the steeliest order, such as very few men would care to undertake.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, June 27, 1917 by Sir Owen Seaman
