From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsmoothlysmooth‧ly /ˈsmuːðli/ ●○○ adverb 1 FLATin a steady way, without stopping and starting again Traffic flowed smoothly.2 SUCCEED IN DOING somethingif a planned event, piece of work etc goes smoothly, there are no problems to spoil it It’ll take about three hours if everything goes smoothly. Donna keeps the office running smoothly.3 if you say something smoothly, you say it in a calm and confident way ‘All taken care of, ’ he said smoothly.4 in a way that produces a smooth surface The jacket fit smoothly over her hips.
Examples from the Corpus
smoothly• Practice the scales until you can play them smoothly.• So faster wage rises were needed if the system was to function smoothly.• This elicited squeals, laughter and elaborate pay-back schemes, all tolerated only as long as the work continued smoothly.• While past cease-fires and attempts at disarmament have failed, the current peace process has gone relatively smoothly.• With one-way streets, cars will move more smoothly and rapidly through the neighborhood.• A pianist neither acquires nor executes the behavior of playing a scale smoothly because of a prior intention of doing so.• Though the court view is rendered well and rotates smoothly, there is one minor flaw.• While most of the day went smoothly, there were moments of tension among some of the officers.• The train ran on smoothly towards Chancery Lane.running smoothly• But it's just to keep things running smoothly.• Tiny, energetic, imaginative, she drove advertising sales to ever-new heights and kept the business departments running smoothly.• Today Riboli, his wife Maddalena and their children keep the winery running smoothly.• Once the engine is running smoothly, a backfire can be dramatic.• My job as duty officer involves keeping Teesside Airport running smoothly at all times.• Like every other business, it needs good management to keep it running smoothly, especially during times of change.• Yes, things were running smoothly once more.• Backup power at bridge Backup power systems kept the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza running smoothly with no delays on the bridge. 