adv
Meaning 1
In a loose manner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
loosely
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈluːsli/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -uːsli
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CMU ARPABET: L UW1 S L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adv
Meaning 2
Not tightly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 3
Approximately.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- It's red, to use the term loosely, sort of brown and sort of orange, let's call it reddish.
- a comic loosely based on an Old Norse epic
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: -ish, about, all but, almost, approaching, around, by and large, circa, close, close to, essentially, for all practical purposes, fornigh, give or take, imprecisely, just about, kind of, loosely, more or less, nearly, near, nearabout, nigh on, odd, or so, plus or minus, roundly, roughly, say, some, -some, sort of, thereabout, virtually, well-nigh, ±
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 4
Used to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- A whale is, loosely, maybe very loosely, a fish.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 5
knitted in a loose manner
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- loosely knit
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 6
in a relaxed manner; not rigid
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- his hands lay loosely
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: slackly
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 7
without regard to specific details or exceptions
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he interprets the law broadly
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: broadly, broadly speaking, generally
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 8
in a loose manner
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a union of loosely federated states
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English lously; equivalent to loose + -ly.
Across languages
Translations
16 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Hungarian: lazán — in a loose manner
- Catalan: en termes generals — not tightly
- Catalan: sense ésser estrictes — not tightly
- Czech: volně — not tightly
- Dutch: ruim — not tightly
- Finnish: löysästi — not tightly
- Finnish: irtonaisesti — not tightly
- French: sans serrer — not tightly
- Ido: ample — not tightly
- Italian: allentato — not tightly
- Polish: luźno — not tightly
- Romanian: lejer — not tightly
- Russian: свобо́дно (svobódno) — not tightly
- Russian: нежёстко (nežóstko) — not tightly
- Russian: без сцепле́ния (bez sceplénija) — not tightly
- Portuguese: vagamente — used to indicate an imprecise use of words
Real reading context