Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use basically in a sentence

40 example sentences · adverb

Basically means in a fundamental, essential or basic manner. Example: “They've added some fancy features, but it's basically still a crappy car.”

Examples of basically by meaning

adverbIn a fundamental, essential or basic manner.

  • They've added some fancy features, but it's basically still a crappy car.

adverbUsed to refer to the most important or fundamental point that the speaker is making or to indicate a generalization or...

  • I shouldn't have done it, basically.
  • To get your eyes tested, you should basically go to the optician's.

More sentences with basically

  • That article was basically a bunch of fluff. It didn't say anything substantive.From the entry fluff
  • The base was legislatively closed: basically they passed a law saying to do it.From the entry legislatively
  • Soda pop is basically sugar water with a little bit of flavoring and added carbonation.From the entry carbonation
  • On such a coordinated board, queens are basically a bluff catcher.From the entry bluff catcher
  • I hit a muscle-up yesterday and basically just got ignored. Gymflation is real.From the entry gymflation
  • The material of his character was basically good.From the entry material
  • I think they've basically decided to go through with it, but they still have to sign on the dotted line.From the entry sign on the dotted line
  • To keep the focus away from his client, the lawyer basically played possum during the entire complex trial, and his tactic paid off with an acquittal.From the entry play possum
  • “It’s basically in the state or throughout the country that you’re hearing these stories.2026 July 9, Samantha Cavalli, quoting Tony Penterman, “Kaukauna drops Flock Safety contract as privacy debate grows in northeast…. From the entry Kaukauna
  • I call God, a mega-famous chef associate who is basically like the Gandalf of Italy.2024, Ben Shewry, Uses for Obsession: A Chef's Memoir, Allen & Unwin. From the entry Gandalf
  • You’re basically seeing with Netanyahu what Trump wished he could have done.2024 June 19, Vaush, 02:51 from the start, in IDF GENERALS APPROVE PLAN TO INVADE LEBANON, spoken by Vaush (Ian Kochinski). From the entry isolationist
  • So Brandy's pregnant with, basically, with a little boy version of her.2024 March 6, Plumbella [pseudonym; Jesse McNamara], 24:47 from the start, in The Sims Iceberg Explained, via YouTube, archived from the…. From the entry pregante
  • It was hunting for marine snow – "poo, basically" in the words of one researcher.2024 August 10, Georgina Rannard, “Down into the Ocean’s ‘Twilight Zone’ with Boathy McBoatface”, in BBC News, archived from the original…. From the entry Boaty McBoatface
  • Basically, nothing our Renaissance cousins did in the name of beauty would shock anyone on TikTok.2024 January 2, Marisa Meltzer, “Book Review: 'How to Be a Renaissance Woman,' by Jill Burke”, in The New York Times Book Review, New…. From the entry cryofacial
  • "Kaishao boy?" "They basically used church as an excuse for ambush matchmaking."2023, Mae Coyiuto, Chloe and the Kaishao Boys, pages 74–75. From the entry kaishao
  • It’s basically the free square in the middle of a bingo card²⁷.2023, Matthew Betti, “[Derivatives] Derivative Formulas”, in Mathematics and Statistics for the Quantitative Sciences, Boca Raton, Fla.…. From the entry battlepass
  • “Skip-care is basically a fancy way of saying that you skip some of the steps.2023 April 9, Hannah Coates, “5 K-Beauty Trends To Amp Up Your Spring Skincare Routine”, in British Vogue, archived from the original on…. From the entry skip-care
  • Basically that posties just spend their time writing essays and polemics and don't do any praxis.2022 April 11, “what are some common anarchist communist critiques of post left anarchism?”, in r/Anarchy101 (Reddit post), archived from…. From the entry postie
  • She has the cross-platform ease of someone who’s been famous forever because she basically has been.2022 November 8, Allison Theresa, “Sadie Robertson Huff Preaches Submissive Womanhood. Her Message Is Uncomfortably Compelling.”, in…. From the entry cross-platform
  • Yeah, this is what’s known as the Elon Musk memelord thesis, basically.2022 April 29, Ezra Klein, “Elon Musk Might Break Twitter. Maybe That’s a Good Thing.” (14:17 from the start), in The Ezra Klein Show…. From the entry memelord
  • This isn't an act of love; he's basically getting Shawshanked by a long-necked bully.2022, Mamadou Ndiaye, 100 Animals That Can F*cking End You, page 107. From the entry Shawshank
  • Oh yeah it's rad that Covid basically normalised smaller artists doing urlfests.2022 June 29, u/CucumberHorse21, “Online Festivals and showcases were the funnest highlight of my Covid lockdown”, in Reddit, r/pcmusic. From the entry urlfest
  • Basically, the problem was actually the British had too many ships!2021 May 2, Drachinifel, 3:59:19 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 144, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2022. From the entry gunnery
  • Basically a cold toddy, it's a shaken drink with bourbon, fresh lemon, and honey.2021, Elva Ramirez, Zero Proof: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 94. From the entry gold rush
  • A croiffle is basically a croissant baked using a waffle maker, which explains its texture and shape.2021 April 7, Hanna Tamondong, “The 'Croiffle' Is The Korean Food Trend We Can't Wait To Try”, in Cosmopolitan. From the entry croiffle
  • “It basically hasn’t become this massive chewing and grinding machine that it becomes later,” Mr.2020 November 9, Nicholas St Fleur, “How a Human Cousin Adapted to a Changing Climate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry microevolution
  • The specific mathematics phobia which is basically comes due to the arithmetic or fear of numbers.2020 August, Rajendra Kunwar, “MATHEMATICS PHOBIA: CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND WAYS TO OVERCOME”, in International Journal of Creative Research…. From the entry arithmophobia
  • Indeed, SWIFT messages are literally lightning fast, travelling over wire at the speed of light, basically instantaneous.2020, Nikesh Lalchandani, Payments and Banking in Australia. From the entry apronym
  • The Netherlands speciality is fritessaus – a type of mayonnaise and basically joy in a pot.2020 July 21, Ryan Bassil, “Holidays in the UK Near London: How to Have a European Mini Break at Home”, in VICE, archived from the…. From the entry fritessaus
  • At NIE the virtually monolingual linguistic landscape basically belies a quite different multilingual reality.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual…. From the entry belie
  • In other words, it’s basically lemon tahini mayo, which is pretty special.2019 January 2, Ari LeVaux, “Flash in the pan: Winter greens: Hearty leaves now in season – with a trio of dressings to help you eat them…. From the entry veganity
  • We are basically aunties on the “orh hor” bandwagon who name and shame.2019 April 25, Gemma Iso, quoting Kethlyn Gayatiri Koh, “Netizen ‘defends’ Nicholas Lim and says “Why do people enjoy playing God, in…. From the entry orh
  • Basically it’s a giant pity party that started on the 4chan board R9K.2018 April 25, Oli Dugmore, “What is an incel? A former member of the internet subculture explains”, in JOE. From the entry wizard
  • You've basically AirBNB'ed your womb; another human being is setting up camp in your innards.2018, Grace Timothy, Lost in Motherhood. From the entry airbnb
  • Then like fifty years ago the Cardassians invaded Bajor and enslaved the people and basically holocausted them.2017 September, “Season Five [Bajoran]”, in Zachary Auburn, editor, A Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation: An…. From the entry holocaust
  • The s’mores pie is basically a graham cracker-y, chocolatey, marshmallowy heaven.2017 March 15, Casey Rackham, quoting Jeffrey T., “The Best Place To Get Pie In Every State, According To Yelp”, in BuzzFeed, archived…. From the entry graham cracker-y
  • If we look at Stephen Harper’s wife, she was basically a non-entity in public.2016 May 12, Shannon Proudfoot, “Sophie’s role: What do we expect of prime ministers’ spouses?”, in Macleans, Canada, retrieved 08 Dec 2019. From the entry do one's own thing

Meaning of basically

  1. adverb In a fundamental, essential or basic manner.
  2. adverb Essentially; mostly; pretty much.
  3. adverb Used to refer to the most important or fundamental point that the speaker is making or to indicate a generalization or simplification; sometimes tending towards a meaningless filler word.

Full definition of basically

Questions about basically in a sentence

How do you use basically in a sentence?
Basically is used as an adverb. For example: “They've added some fancy features, but it's basically still a crappy car.”
What is a short sentence with basically?
“I shouldn't have done it, basically.”
What does basically mean?
Basically means in a fundamental, essential or basic manner.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: basically (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use basically in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/basically. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.