Word.ws English Dictionary

overlightly

overlightly adverb: in an overlight manner; too easily or readily; frivolously.

Adverb

overlightly (comparative more overlightly, superlative most overlightly)

  1. (dated) In an overlight manner; too easily or readily; frivolously
    • A prudent man doth not overlightly beleeve any thing, but laieth aside all reputation and credit of him that speaketh, and examineth the speech by it selfe: […]1589, The French Academie
    • Mrs. Burton's conscience smote her not overlightly, and she hastened to change the subject, and to devote herself assiduously to Budge, as if to atone for some injury which she might have done to his brother.1877, John Habberton, Other People's Children, page 101

Examples of overlightly in a sentence

  • In short, it is said to do more for builders than agriculturists, and has been, let us hope, overlightly named " The Freemasons' Refuge."1878, Eustace Clare Grenville Murray, Round about France, page 146:
  • I have heard it said that in these days young people speak overlightly of divorce.1904, Good Housekeeping, volume 39, page 403:
  • They had assumed overlightly that all the twists of seal law had become outmoded tortuosities, and then they barked their shins on one which was instead a taut and bearing rope.2016, Karl N. Llewellyn, The Common Law Tradition: Deciding Appeals:

Forms of overlightly

comparativemore overlightly
superlativemost overlightly

Origin of overlightly

From Middle English overlyghtly, over-lightly, equivalent to over- + lightly.

Questions about overlightly

What does overlightly mean?
Overlightly means in an overlight manner; too easily or readily; frivolously.
How do you use overlightly in a sentence?
In short, it is said to do more for builders than agriculturists, and has been, let us hope, overlightly named " The Freemasons' Refuge."
What part of speech is overlightly?
Overlightly is an adverb.

Words near overlightly in the dictionary

  1. overlighten
  2. overlightened
  3. overlightening
  4. overlightens
  5. overlighting
  6. overlightly
  7. overlights
  8. overlime
  9. overlimed
  10. overlimes
  11. overliming

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overlightly (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.

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