slowly

American  

[sloh-lee] / ˈsloʊ li /

adverb

1. in a slow manner; at a slow speed.

   Sauté the peppers slowly.

   I drove slowly back home.

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Usage

What is a basic definition of slowly? Slowly is used when something is happening in a slow manner or in a way that lacks speed or quickness.Slowly is the adverb form of the word slow, which describes something as lacking speed. If you walk slowly, for example, you are not moving quickly. Things that happen slowly take much longer to occur than things that happen quickly.

• Real-life examples: Sloths, snails, and turtles move very slowly. For safety, it is a good idea to drive slowly past schools or construction sites. For most people, time moves slowly when they are bored, at school, or at work.
• Used in a sentence: She picked up the broken glass slowly and carefully.

Commonly Confused

See slow.

Etymology

Origin of slowly

First recorded in 1310–50; Middle English slawliche, slawly; slow ( def. ), -ly ( def. )

Example Sentences

Davidson described the emergence of a tic as a "gut-wrenching feeling in the middle of your stomach which slowly rises to your chest".

From BBC

The lush number slowly worked its way up the charts, eventually reaching No. 1 on Billboard in 1975.

From Los Angeles Times

I experimented with versions of myself, and slowly I found my voice as a liberal woman, and later as a writer and advocate for refugees.

From The Wall Street Journal

In a series of maneuvers fit for a John le Carré story, Mercader slowly ingratiated himself into the Trotsky household.

From The Wall Street Journal

Big picture: Inflation is rising more slowly now than it was a few years ago, but it’s still running above prepandemic trends and frustrating everybody.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• calmly
• casually
• deliberately
• gently
• gradually
• haltingly
• lazily
• nonchalantly