lightly
/ˈlaɪtli/
lightly adverb: in a light manner.
Adverb
lightly (comparative lightlier or more lightly, superlative lightliest or most lightly)
- In a light manner.
- As a teacher, I don't take rudeness in class lightly.
- Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
lightly meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
lightly in Hindi
- हल्के से
lightly in Tamil
- மெதுவாக
lightly in Bengali
- হালকাভাবে, আলতো করে
lightly in Malayalam
- gently, softly, faintly
- മൃദുവായി, മൃദുലമായി, ശനകെെഃ, ശനെെഃ, ലഘുവായി, മാർദ്ദവത്തോടെ
- sparsely, sparingly, slightly
- ലഘുവായ രീതിയിൽ, കുറവായി പരിമിതമായി, ലുബ്ധോടെ, സ്വല്പമായി, ചെറുതായി, നനുനനെ
- leniently, without severe punishment, easily
- ലഘുവായ ശിക്ഷയോടെ, കഠിനശിക്ഷ കൂടാതെ, അനായാസം, അനായാസേന, നിർഗ്ഗൗരവം, ഗൗരവമില്ലാതെ
- heedlessly, carelessly, airily
- ലാഘവത്തോടെ, അലക്ഷ്യമായി, അലസം, അശ്രദ്ധം, നിനയയ്ക്കാതെ, ലാഘവബുദ്ധിയോട
More languagesFewer languages
- lightly in Kannada
- ಲಘುವಾಗಿ, ಹಗುರವಾಗಿ, ಭಾರವಿಲ್ಲದೆ, ಹೊರೆಯಿಲ್ಲದೆ
- lightly in Sanskrit
- लघु laghu
Examples of lightly in a sentence
- You got off lightly by not being kept in detention for breaking that window.
- The captain executed the flare perfectly, and we lightly touched down.
- My cousin got off lightly with a restraining order after he broke the boy’s leg.
Forms of lightly
| comparative | lightlier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more lightly |
| superlative | lightliest |
| superlative | most lightly |
| alternative form | lighty |
Origin of lightly
From Middle English lyghtly, liȝtliche, lihtliche, from Old English lēohtlīċe, equivalent to light + -ly.
Words formed from lightly
Phrases with lightly
- took lightly
- trod lightly
- taken lightly
- takes lightly
- taking lightly
- treads lightly
- got off lightly
- treaded lightly
- trodden lightly
- gets off lightly
- treading lightly
- gotten off lightly
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with lightly
Questions about lightly
- What does lightly mean?
- Lightly means in a light manner.
- What is lightly in Hindi?
- Lightly in Hindi is हल्के से. See Lightly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is lightly?
- Lightly is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce lightly?
- Lightly is pronounced /ˈlaɪtli/.
Words near lightly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lightly (page history and authors); lightly (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lightly (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lightly (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lightly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); lightly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lightly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lightly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lightly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.