Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use loosely in a sentence

40 example sentences · adverb

Loosely means in a loose manner. Example: “Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.”

Examples of loosely by meaning

adverbIn 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

adverbNot tightly.

  • Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.

adverbApproximately.

  • 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
  • It is loosely adapted by John Hodge from Irvine Welsh’s novel Porno which imagined them coming together again 10 years on; this of course is 20.2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in The Guardian

adverbUsed to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking.

  • A whale is, loosely, maybe very loosely, a fish.

More sentences with loosely

  • His starved flesh hung loosely on his once imposing frame.From the entry frame
  • They are representatives that will loosely conjoin a nation.From the entry conjoin
  • “‘Crazy’ is a word that’s not gonna be used loosely in the future,” Ye said.2022 February 11, Peony Hirwani, “Kanye West tells fan who suggested he’s off medication to ‘be more conscious’”, in The Independent…. From the entry ye
  • With “re” being defined, loosely, linguistically, Latinly, as “again,” and “turn” as, probably, “back.” So, “again back.”2013 January 12, Mike Bell, “When things we used to love boomerang back”, in Calgary Herald, page D1. From the entry Latinly
  • The earliest form of parrel was probably a rope loosely lashed about the mast and yard.2012, Henry B. Culver, The Book of Old Ships: From Egyptian Galleys to Clipper Ships, Dover Publications, page 229. From the entry parrel
  • The brave German car's all-wheel drive tackled and spun through almost eight inches of loosely plowed snow.2012, L.B. Gregg, Men of Smithfield: Mark and Tony, page 123. From the entry all-wheel drive
  • They found that strong people skills correlate loosely or not at all with being a good CEO.2009 May 18, David Brooks, “In Praise of Dullness”, in New York Times. From the entry people skills
  • Monastic liturgical singing is known as fanbei, which may be loosely translated as ‘Indian singing’.2005, “Buddhist music”, in Edward Lawrence Davis, editor, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 73…. From the entry fanbei
  • Males and females are similar, although the two males examined have the pereional segments more loosely articulated.2001, Brian Frederick Kensley, Isopod Systematics and Evolution, page 59. From the entry pereional
  • Qenet is an interval set which can be loosely translated as mode.1997, Katsuyoshi Fukui, Eisei Kurimoto, Masayoshi Shigeta, editors, Ethiopia in Broader Perspective: Papers of the XIIIth International…. From the entry qenet
  • Ramsey theory can be loosely described as the study of structure which is preserved under finite decomposition.1987, R. L. Graham, V. Rôdl, “Numbers in Ramsey Theory”, in C. Whitehead, editor, Surveys in Combinatorics 1987: Invited Papers for the…. From the entry Ramsey theory
  • My shirt was too big and its collar sat loosely around my crêpey neck.1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 477. From the entry crêpy
  • Thus far, the discussion has treated the relationship between preferences and governmental outcomes rather loosely.1969, Charles F. Cnudde, Deane E. Neubauer, Empirical Democratic Theory, page 523. From the entry nonallegiant
  • Carbonic acid is composed of carbondioxid and water loosely held together, but they are nearly always together.1922, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. From the entry carbondioxid
  • Colonel CJ Martin gives some observations on " barcoo rot." This is a very loosely applied term.1917, letter, British Medical Journal, volume 1917, page 468. From the entry Barcoo rot
  • His clothes hung loosely about him as though they had been made for a much larger man.1915, W. Somerset Maugham, “chapter 116”, in Of Human Bondage. From the entry stock
  • Paraphyses loosely branching and internetting or absent; spores 2 to 6-locular, colorless, ovoid or oblong.1913 June 9, Hermann Edward Hasse, “Systematic Treatment”, in The Lichen Flora of Southern California (Smithsonian Institution, Bulletin…. From the entry internet
  • It, too, is a loosely defined term, but generally refers to a machine that is more powerful than the human brain.2025 June 13, Cade Metz, “Meta Is Building a Superintelligence Lab. What Is That?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry superintelligence
  • Let them know you’re looking to create a loosely held balance of air time and want to hear from everyone.2017 May 17, “Critical to your team's culture: Equal air time”, in SmartBrief, retrieved 15 Sep 2021. From the entry airtime
  • Under vaguely defined and loosely enforced international law, the first person who claims sovereignty over terra nullius can have it.2017, Jamie Bartlett, chapter 8, in Radicals, William Heinemann, →ISBN. From the entry terra nullius
  • The polaroplast consisted of a region of closely and loosely packed series of membranes (Fig 4D and 4E).2015 August 6, “Description of the Microsporidian Parasite, Heterosporis sutherlandae n. sp., Infecting Fish in the Great Lakes Region…. From the entry polaroplast
  • The ballet is loosely based on E.T.A.2013 December 17, Dana Glassman, “For kids from one to 92”, in National Post, volume 16, number 43, page B2. From the entry Gen Zed
  • My husband chops wood for the bogracs, our big Hungarian soup pot that loosely resembles a witch’s cauldron.2012 July 21, Judi Resick-Csokai, “Grandma’s magic soup pot: The ultimate comfort food grounds us in our ancient roots”, in Pittsburgh…. From the entry bogracs
  • If so, this piece of zoogony is not myth or outright speculation, but is based, however loosely, on observational knowledge.2008, Andrew Gregory, Ancient Greek Cosmogony. From the entry zoogony
  • Old Order Amishwomen wear plain-cut dresses fitted loosely at the waist and sometimes fashioned with a capelike appendage over the bodice.2006, Pauline Stevick, Beyond the Plain and Simple: A Patchwork of Amish Lives, The Kent State University Press, →ISBN, page 79. From the entry Amishwoman
  • Now straighten up slowly again, and sit loosely.2005, Heike Lebherz, Riding For Pleasure. From the entry straighten up
  • E-Racer Based loosely upon one of the original Rutan designs, the airplane goes where no man has gone before.1998 April, Budd Davisson, “Skyburners”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 165, page 68. From the entry boldly go where no man has gone before
  • Majority rule, loosely put, is the proposition that 51 percent of the people should be able to get whatever they want.1995, Lani Guinier, The tyranny of the majority. From the entry 51 percent
  • Frontal view of incompletely molted male, with honeycombed shell of instar II still loosely nested over nonhoneycombed shell of instar III.1982, Journal of Crustacean Biology, page 470. From the entry nonhoneycombed
  • Her deeply hennaed hair, almost black at the roots, straggled loosely down both sides of her long face.1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 12. From the entry deeply
  • Aided by government propaganda, herring became an important British war-time food, not pickled, but 'freshed' (packed loosely in ice) and kippered.1960, Nigel Nicolson, Lord of the Isles: Lord Leverhulme of the Hebrides, page 84. From the entry fresh
  • Instead, there was a sudden scrunch of iron, a splintering of wood, and the door swung loosely open.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries. From the entry scrunch
  • In the Theromorpha, so far as known, the paroccipitals are fused with the supraoccipital, suturally or loosely articulated with the exoccipitals.1925, Samuel Wendell Williston, “Chapter 1”, in The Osteology of the Reptiles. From the entry paroccipital
  • "It is not for nothing that airlines recommend keeping seat belts loosely fastened throughout a flight be it long or short," he added.2024 May 21, Joel Guinto, Simon Fraser, quoting John Strickland, “One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence”, in BBC News. From the entry not for nothing

Meaning of loosely

  1. adverb In a loose manner.
  2. adverb Not tightly.
  3. adverb Approximately.

Full definition of loosely

Questions about loosely in a sentence

How do you use loosely in a sentence?
Loosely is used as an adverb. For example: “Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.”
What is a short sentence with loosely?
“The ballet is loosely based on E.T.A.”
What does loosely mean?
Loosely means in a loose manner.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: loosely (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 loosely in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/loosely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.