darkly
adv.in a way that is serious, mysterious, or slightly scary. You use this to describe a person's mood or a story that has a serious and gloomy feeling.
adv.in a manner that is serious, somber, or ominous; in a way that suggests a lack of light or a mysterious atmosphere.
“He spoke darkly about the future of the company.”
“The author wrote the ending darkly, leaving the reader with a sense of unease and foreboding.”
“The protagonist's darkly humorous observations about the political landscape reveal a deep-seated cynicism that he has developed over decades of service.”
“Kobayashi calls the result “funky zombie action”, a phrase coined to give the development team a shared idea of the game’s tone: fast, colourful and darkly funny.”
From Middle English derkly, derkely, derkliche, derkeliche; equivalent to dark + -ly. Compare Old English deorclīċe, a parallel formation.
From Middle English derkely, equivalent to dark + -ly.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.