adv ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adverb

1. 1
   In a light manner.

   "As a teacher, I don't take rudeness in class lightly."

Adverb

1. 1
   with indifference or without dejection wordnet
2. 2
   indulging with temperance wordnet
3. 3
   to a slight degree wordnet
4. 4
   with little weight or force wordnet
5. 5
   with few burdens wordnet

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   in a small quantity or extent wordnet
7. 7
   without good reason wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

a bita littleairilyarbitrarilybarelyblithely

Antonyms

All antonyms

fastheavily

Example

More examples

"The girls were dancing lightly like so many butterflies."

Etymology

From Middle English lyghtly, liȝtliche, lihtliche, from Old English lēohtlīċe, equivalent to light + -ly.

Related phrases

get off lightlyonce-over-lightlytake lightlytread lightlytread-lightly

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