Word family noun light lighter lighting lightness adjective light lighted unlit verb light lighten adverb lightly light
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlightlylight‧ly /ˈlaɪtli/ ●●○ adverb 1 LIGHT/NOT HEAVYwith only a small amount of weight or force SYN gently I knocked lightly on the door.2 LITTLE/NOT VERYusing or having only a small amount of something a lightly greased pan lightly armed soldiers3 → take/treat/approach something lightly4 → get off lightly5 HAPPYwithout worrying, or without appearing to be worried ‘Things will be fine, ’ he said lightly.Examples from the Corpus
lightly• In the light of this awesome fact, how can we treat our membership of that body so lightly?• Saute, stirring often, until corn is lightly browned.• A quick-to-prepare, pretty and unusual fruit based starter followed by lightly cooked salmon.• In a large bowl, lightly cream together the margarine and sugar.• I knocked lightly on the door.• Getting up from rummaging in the wastepaper basket, she bumped her head, very lightly, on the sink.• Mix together lightly to form 6 oblong patties.• Place sage leaves under the skin of quail and season birds lightly with salt and pepper. 