deviously

comparative more deviously · superlative most deviously

1. In a devious manner.

   For as much as the Downton Abbey alum has capitalized on his leading-man presentability—how suited he is to wearing suits—his best performances play deviously on that quality.

   2021 September 16, A. A. Dowd, “Dan Stevens as a dashing robot lover? That computes”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 30 Dec 2021

   3 more examples

   Shirley worked deviously, of course. Having, under a name not her own, achieved fame by Tarbellizing the plutocrat in a book, and having (still in disguise) been given by the simple minded great man command of his most private papers […]

   1906, Army & Navy Life and the United Service

   And what conversation becomes then is a sustained strip or tract of referencings, each referencing tending to bear, but often deviously, some retrospectively perceivable connection to the immediately preceding one.

   1999, James R. Taylor, Elizabeth J. Van Every, The Emergent Organization: Communication As Its Site and Surface, page 36

   If you are fooled by the surface you start thinking about internet browsers. But in this case it deviously refers to an animal that feeds by browsing, which is a longer standing use of the word.

   2018 December 7, Bryan Lawson, The Design Student's Journey: understanding How Designers Think, Routledge, →ISBN