loosely

From Middle English lously; equivalent to loose +‎ -ly.

• IPA^(key): /ˈluːsli/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːsli
• Hyphenation: loose‧ly

loosely (comparative more loosely, superlative most loosely)

1. In a loose manner.
   • 2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27:

     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).

2. Not tightly.

   Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.

3. Approximately.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus: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

   • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian‎:

     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.

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

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

• (antonym(s) of “not tightly”): tightly

• loosely-typed
• sit loosely

• Loosley, oleoyls