Idly

//ˈaɪd(ə)lɪ// adv, noun

adv, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of idli. alt-of, alternative

    "A Tamil breakfast starts with idly (steamed rice cakes) with sambhar (hot, spicy and sour lentils with vegetables) and rasams (broth of lentil, spiced) and upma (cooked course wheat), lunch is generally dosai (thin crepes), vadas (deep fried nuggets of lentils) with sambhar."

Adverb
  1. 1
    Without specific purpose, intent or effort.

    "I idly played with the paper, not even realizing I was folding it into a paper airplane."

  2. 2
    In an idle manner.
Adverb
  1. 1
    in an idle manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
deliberatelyeasilygasgentlyhaltinglyinsignificantly

Example

More examples

"Don't look away idly; just pay attention to what you're doing."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English idely, ydelly, idelliche, from Old English īdellīċe, equivalent to idle + -ly.

Etymology 2

From Tamil இட்லி (iṭli), Kannada ಇಡ್ಲಿ (iḍli).

Related phrases

sit idly by

More for "idly"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.