[syn: thinly, lightly]
7. to a slight degree;
- Example: "her speech is only lightly accented"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Lightly \Light"ly\, adv.
1. With little weight; with little force; as, to tread
lightly; to press lightly.
[1913 Webster]
Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be drest,
And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast.
--Pope.
[1913 Webster]
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Swiftly; nimbly; with agility.
[1913 Webster]
So mikle was that barge, it might not lightly sail.
--R. of
Brunne.
[1913 Webster]
Watch what thou seest and lightly bring me word.
--Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
3. Without deep impression.
[1913 Webster]
The soft ideas of the cheerful note,
Lightly received, were easily forgot. --Prior.
[1913 Webster]
4. In a small degree; slightly; not severely.
[1913 Webster]
At the first he lightly afflicted the land of
Zebulun . . . and afterward did more grievously
afflict her. --Is. ix. 1.
[1913 Webster]
5. With little effort or difficulty; easily; readily.
[1913 Webster]
That lightly come, shall lightly go. --Old Proverb.
[1913 Webster]
They come lightly by the malt, and need not spare
it. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
6. Without reason, or for reasons of little weight.
[1913 Webster]
Flatter not the rich, neither do thou willingly or
lightly appear before great personages. --Jer.
Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
7. Commonly; usually. [Obs.] --Bp. Fisher.
[1913 Webster]
The great thieves of a state are lightly the
officers of the crown. --B. Jonson.
[1913 Webster]
8. Without dejection; cheerfully. "Seeming to bear it
lightly." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
9. Without heed or care; with levity; gayly; airily.
[1913 Webster]
Matrimony . . . is not by any to be enterprised, nor
taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly.
--Book of
Common Prayer
[Eng. Ed.].
[1913 Webster]
10. Not chastely; wantonly. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
lightly
adv 1: without good reason; "one cannot say such things lightly"
2: with few burdens; "experienced travellers travel light" [syn:
lightly, light]
3: with little weight or force; "she kissed him lightly on the
forehead" [syn: lightly, softly, gently]
4: indulging with temperance; "we eat lightly in the morning"
[ant: hard, heavily, intemperately]
5: with indifference or without dejection; "he took it lightly"
6: in a small quantity or extent; "spread the margarine thinly
over the meat"; "apply paint lightly" [syn: thinly,
lightly] [ant: thickly]
7: to a slight degree; "her speech is only lightly accented"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
82 Moby Thesaurus words for "lightly":
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