Meaning of LIGHTLY
| Pronunciation: | | 'lItlee
|
 WordNet Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
- [adv] with indifference or without dejection; "he took it lightly"
- [adv] indulging with temperance; "we eat lightly in the morning"
- [adv] to a slight degree; "her speech is only lightly accented"
- [adv] with little weight or force; "she kissed him lightly on the forehead"
- [adv] with few burdens; "experienced travellers travel light"
- [adv] in a small quantity or extent; "spread the margarine thinly over the meat"; "apply paint lightly"
- [adv] without good reason; "one cannot say such things lightly"
|
| |
| | Sponsored Links: | |
|
| |
| | Synonyms: | | gently, light, softly, thinly |
| |
| | Antonyms: | | hard, heavily, intemperately, thickly | | |
|
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | | \Light"ly\, adv.
1. With little weight; with little force; as, to tread
lightly; to press lightly.
Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be drest,
And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast.
--Pope.
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear Touched
lightly. --Milton.
2. Swiftly; nimbly; with agility.
So mikle was that barge, it might not lightly sail.
--R. of
Brunne.
Watch what thou seest and lightly bring me word.
--Tennyson.
3. Without deep impression.
The soft ideas of the cheerful note, Lightly
received, were easily forgot. --Prior.
4. In a small degree; slightly; not severely.
At the first he lightly afflicted the land of
Zebulun . . . and afterward did more grievously
afflict her. --Is. ix. 1.
5. With little effort or difficulty; easily; readily.
That lightly come, shall lightly go. --Old Proverb.
They come lightly by the malt, and need not spare
it. --Sir W.
Scott.
6. Without reason, or for reasons of little weight.
Flatter not the rich, neither do thou willingly or
lightly appear before great personages. --Jer.
Taylor.
7. Commonly; usually. [Obs.] --Bp. Fisher.
The great thieves of a state are lightly the
officers of the crown. --B. Jonson.
8. Without dejection; cheerfully. ``Seeming to bear it
lightly.'' --Shak.
9. Without heed or care; with levity; gayly; airily.
Matrimony . . . is not by any to be enterprised, nor
taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly.
--Book of
Common Prayer
[Eng. Ed.].
10. Not chastely; wantonly. --Swift.
|
| |
| Thesaurus Terms |
| |
| | Related Terms: | | a bit, a little, airily, arbitrarily, barely, blithely, by a hair, by an ace, capriciously, cheerfully, cheerily, easily, effortlessly, ever so little, exiguously, facilely, faintly, fancifully, feebly, flightily, freely, frivolously, genially, gladly, hands down, happily, hardly, hopefully, idly, immaterially, imperfectly, inadvertently, inappreciably, inconsequentially, insignificantly, irrepressibly, jauntily, joyfully, just a bit, like clockwork, like nothing, little, meagerly, minimally, minutely, negligently, negligibly, no sweat, not hardly, on easy terms, only just, optimistically, permissively, pettily, pleasantly, readily, remissly, scampingly, scantily, scarcely, shallowly, simply, skimpingly, slightingly, slightly, slurringly, smilingly, smoothly, superficially, swimmingly, tant soit peu, triflingly, trivially, unessentially, unimportantly, unreasonably, unrigorously, weakly, well, whimsically, with good cheer, without difficulty |
| |
|
|
|