safely
Americanadverb
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without harm or injury.
The travel team has arrived safely and on schedule.
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without risk or danger.
While we sit safely in our air-conditioned homes complaining, he’s driving across the country working for change.
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in a way that protects from loss, damage, or harm.
I wanted that piece of paper safely filed away, just in case I needed to look at it again.
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without likelihood of being wrong; with reasonable assurance.
I think we can safely say that the zoo expects some puma kittens later this year!
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of safely
Explanation
Do something in a careful or cautious way, and you'll do it safely. The most important thing you'll learn in a drivers ed class is to drive safely. "Travel safely!" you might call to a departing friend. You're encouraging them to avoid danger as they make their way home. You can bike safely by wearing a helmet and using hand signals, and use power tools safely by following all the rules and focusing on your work. Safely comes from safe and its Latin root salvus, "uninjured or in good health."
Vocabulary lists containing safely
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.
Further research will be needed to establish whether engineered GMPs can be used safely and effectively in people, particularly if they are intended to persist and produce immune cells over extended periods.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Special Order 40 was aimed at reassuring the city’s immigrants that they could safely report a crime or serve as a witness without fear of deportation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Trans rights organisations TransActual and Trans+ Solidarity Alliance have said they are concerned NHS staff will be unclear on how to safely look after trans patients.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
“These measures will provide time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue,” Kotlikoff said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
To retrieve the astronaut safely, we had to make sure that we understood the exact place and time that space capsule would touch down.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
