loosely

Adverb

loosely (comparative more loosely, superlative most loosely)

1. In a loose manner.
   • Then she fell back on the altar and her fingers dangled loosely on its edge, her feet uncrossed and lay beside each other.1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 32
   • It was an April Fool hoax, of course. 31200 had been rigged up with a single lightweight wooden [name] plate (loosely held on by Blu Tack).2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27
2. Not tightly.
   • Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.
3. Approximately.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   -ish, about, all but, almost, approaching, around, by and large, circa, close, close to

4. Used to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking
   • A whale is, loosely, maybe very loosely, a fish.