"loosely" meaning in English

See loosely in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

IPA: /ˈluːsli/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-loosely.wav Forms: more loosely [comparative], most loosely [superlative]
Rhymes: -uːsli Etymology: From Middle English lously; equivalent to loose + -ly. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|lously}} Middle English lously, {{suffix|en|loose|ly}} loose + -ly Head templates: {{en-adv}} loosely (comparative more loosely, superlative most loosely)
  1. In a loose manner.
    Sense id: en-loosely-en-adv-3nhkqgGZ
  2. Not tightly. Translations (not tightly): en termes generals (Catalan), sense ésser estrictes (Catalan), volně (Czech), ruim (Dutch), löysästi (Finnish), irtonaisesti (Finnish), sans serrer (French), ample (Ido), allentato (Italian), luźno (Polish), lejer (Romanian), свобо́дно (svobódno) (Russian), нежёстко (nežóstko) (Russian), без сцепле́ния (bez sceplénija) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-loosely-en-adv-fO7tzZRl Disambiguation of 'not tightly': 0 99 0 0
  3. Approximately. Synonyms: approximately
    Sense id: en-loosely-en-adv-BAxUljCc
  4. Used to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking Translations (used to indicate an imprecise use of words): vagamente (Portuguese), vagamente (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-loosely-en-adv-M9GFemd0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English hedges, English terms suffixed with -ly, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Catalan translations, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Ido translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Romanian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 1 38 0 61 Disambiguation of English hedges: 8 24 0 68 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ly: 3 29 0 68 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 2 22 0 76 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 24 0 74 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 37 0 62 Disambiguation of Terms with Catalan translations: 3 32 0 65 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 3 33 0 65 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 3 29 0 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 2 34 0 64 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 3 29 0 69 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 2 27 0 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Ido translations: 2 32 0 66 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 3 29 0 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 10 25 0 65 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 3 33 0 64 Disambiguation of Terms with Romanian translations: 3 30 0 67 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 3 31 0 66 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 2 25 0 73 Disambiguation of 'used to indicate an imprecise use of words': 0 1 0 99
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: loosely-typed, sit loosely

Alternative forms

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "antonym(s) of “not tightly”",
      "word": "tightly"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "loosely-typed"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "sit loosely"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "lously"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English lously",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "loose",
        "3": "ly"
      },
      "expansion": "loose + -ly",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English lously; equivalent to loose + -ly.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more loosely",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most loosely",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "loosely (comparative more loosely, superlative most loosely)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "loose‧ly"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27:",
          "text": "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).",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a loose manner."
      ],
      "id": "en-loosely-en-adv-3nhkqgGZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "loose",
          "loose"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Not tightly."
      ],
      "id": "en-loosely-en-adv-fO7tzZRl",
      "links": [
        [
          "tightly",
          "tightly"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "en termes generals"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "sense ésser estrictes"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "volně"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "ruim"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "löysästi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "irtonaisesti"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "sans serrer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "io",
          "lang": "Ido",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "ample"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "allentato"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "luźno"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "lejer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "svobódno",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "свобо́дно"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "nežóstko",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "нежёстко"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 99 0 0",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "bez sceplénija",
          "sense": "not tightly",
          "word": "без сцепле́ния"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's red, to use the term loosely, sort of brown and sort of orange, let's call it reddish.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "a comic loosely based on an Old Norse epic",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Approximately."
      ],
      "id": "en-loosely-en-adv-BAxUljCc",
      "links": [
        [
          "Approximately",
          "approximately"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "approximately"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "1 38 0 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 24 0 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English hedges",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 29 0 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ly",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 22 0 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 24 0 74",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 37 0 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 32 0 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Catalan translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 33 0 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Czech translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 29 0 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 34 0 64",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 29 0 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 27 0 71",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 32 0 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Ido translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 29 0 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 25 0 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 33 0 64",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 30 0 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Romanian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 31 0 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 25 0 73",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "A whale is, loosely, maybe very loosely, a fish.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking"
      ],
      "id": "en-loosely-en-adv-M9GFemd0",
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 0 99",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "used to indicate an imprecise use of words",
          "word": "vagamente"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 0 99",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "used to indicate an imprecise use of words",
          "word": "vagamente"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈluːsli/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-loosely.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/39/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/39/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-uːsli"
    }
  ],
  "word": "loosely"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "antonym(s) of “not tightly”",
      "word": "tightly"
    }
  ],
  "categories": [
    "English adverbs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English hedges",
    "English lemmas",
    "English modal adverbs",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms suffixed with -ly",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Requests for review of Esperanto translations",
    "Rhymes:English/uːsli",
    "Rhymes:English/uːsli/2 syllables",
    "Terms with Catalan translations",
    "Terms with Czech translations",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Ido translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Romanian translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "loosely-typed"
    },
    {
      "word": "sit loosely"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "lously"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English lously",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "loose",
        "3": "ly"
      },
      "expansion": "loose + -ly",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English lously; equivalent to loose + -ly.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more loosely",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most loosely",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "loosely (comparative more loosely, superlative most loosely)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "loose‧ly"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27:",
          "text": "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).",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a loose manner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "loose",
          "loose"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Not tightly."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tightly",
          "tightly"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's red, to use the term loosely, sort of brown and sort of orange, let's call it reddish.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "a comic loosely based on an Old Norse epic",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Approximately."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Approximately",
          "approximately"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "approximately"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "A whale is, loosely, maybe very loosely, a fish.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈluːsli/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-loosely.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/39/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/39/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-loosely.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-uːsli"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "en termes generals"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "sense ésser estrictes"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "volně"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "ruim"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "löysästi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "irtonaisesti"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "sans serrer"
    },
    {
      "code": "io",
      "lang": "Ido",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "ample"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "allentato"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "luźno"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "lejer"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "svobódno",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "свобо́дно"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "nežóstko",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "нежёстко"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "bez sceplénija",
      "sense": "not tightly",
      "word": "без сцепле́ния"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "used to indicate an imprecise use of words",
      "word": "vagamente"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "used to indicate an imprecise use of words",
      "word": "vagamente"
    }
  ],
  "word": "loosely"
}

Download raw JSONL data for loosely meaning in English (5.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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