locally
Americanadverb
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in a particular place, area, location, etc.
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with regard to place.
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in a local area; nearby.
Not much interest is taken in the chess tournament locally.
adverb
Etymology
Origin of locally
First recorded in 1400–50, locally is from the late Middle English word localliche. See local, -ly
Explanation
Things that happen locally occur close to a specific place — near your town, for example. Locally grown tomatoes are picked on nearby farms and sold at your neighborhood market. If you shop locally, you support your neighbors' businesses whenever possible, buying things that are made and sold in your city or state. If there's been an increase in population locally, it means the total number of people living in your immediate area has gone up. This adverb can also describe things that occur only in one restricted part of the body: "Apply the ointment locally to the itchy spots."
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.
The team found that motor control in fruit flies mostly occurs locally.
From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026
They are petards, locally called kaxxa spanjola, designed to make noise and a small puff of smoke without anything visible in the sky.
From Slate • Jun. 6, 2026
Urgency to tamp down the invasive mosquito population in California has increased since 2023, when the state logged its first locally acquired dengue cases — meaning people were infected in their communities, not while traveling.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
This response has relied on expert CDC staff stationed locally to provide proven tools for stopping Ebola outbreaks, including testing, contact tracing, and technical and epidemiological support.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
On the other hand, the ultimate explanations—for example, why bronze tools appeared early in parts of Eurasia, late and only locally in the New World, and never in Aboriginal Australia—remain unclear.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
