View synonyms for lightly

lightly

[ lahyt-lee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adverb

with little weight, force, intensity, etc.; gently:
to press lightly on a door bell.
to only a small amount or degree; slightly:
lightly fried eggs.
nimbly; quickly:
to leap lightly aside.
with a lack of concern; indifferently; slightly:
to think lightly of one's achievements.
cheerfully; without complaining:
to take bad news lightly.
without due consideration or reason (often used negatively):
an offer not to be refused lightly.
without trouble or effort; easily:
Lightly come, lightly go.
frivolously; flippantly:
to behave lightly.
airily; buoyantly:
flags floating lightly.

Origin of lightly¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English lightli, Old English lēohtlīce; light ², -ly

And it often travels so lightly that you can forget you are clothed in its benefits.

“We do not take attacks on our police officers lightly,” Bratton said.

Snow fell lightly Wednesday as a League member standing in front of City Hall read the demands.

On a lightly floured board, roll each pastry to an 11-inch square.

Future lives, careers and attitudes were being determined in this lightly regulated fever.

He heard himself saying lightly, though with apparent lack of interest: 'How curious, Lettice, how very odd!

We have said it had been lightly laden at starting, which was the reason of the tremendous pace at which it travelled.

He rose and kissed her lightly on the forehead, experience teaching him to avoid a stray hair from the carefully built coiffure.

Its tiny wreath of smoke curled lightly about her, mounting up in the warm, bright room.

She slept lightly at first, half awake and drowsily attentive to the things about her.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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