Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Keep "sulkily" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "sulkily" intact in the sentence you are editing.
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
After choosing a replacement for "sulkily", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "sulkily" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
4 total sentences available.
"So haven't we got anything left to eat in the house?" mumbled Tom sulkily. "No. As you can see, there's nothing left. But here you go – here's the shopping list," replied Mary, pressing the list into his hand, his stomach growling like that of a starving wolf as he stood in front of the empty fridge. "Now then, you can go and sit yourself in the car and get yourself down to the shops, can't you?"
Source: tatoeba (8808916)
"There, now I suppose you're satisfied!" he said, sulkily, but his instructor was not, it seemed, satisfied.
Source: tatoeba (11982273)
But the pretty milk-maid was much too vexed to make any answer. She picked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the poor animal limping on three legs.
Source: wiktionary
By hammering trenchantly on that point, Podson was induced to say sulkily, "Oh, all right, if you're so set on it...I never mentioned it. Hang it, I'm not likely to mention it to anybody, am I?"
Source: wiktionary
Closest matches include glumly, grimly, grumpily, moodily, morosely.
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.