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[ adverb ] without good reason
Examples "one cannot say such things lightly" Used in print (U.S. Reports. Volume 364. Cases Adjudged in the...)I am not easily persuaded that a rule accepted by so many people for so many centuries can be so lightly dismissed . (Frances and Richard Lockridge, Murder Has...)He would say , of_course , that he had not really had any such wish ; that what he had said was no more than one of those things one does say , lightly , meaning nothing . (George Harmon Coxe, Error of Judgement....)And so , still wondering and a_little perplexed , he grinned at the girl and spoke lightly to make_sure that she would know he was kidding . (Ralph J. Salisbury, "On the Old Santa Fe Trail...)How lightly her `` eventshah-leh '' passed_into_the_crannies where I was storing dialect material for some vaguely dreamed opus , and how the word would echo . |
| 2 |
[ adverb ] indulging with temperance
Examples "we eat lightly in the morning" Used in print (Ross E. McKinney and Howard Edde, "Aerated...)It seems that the aerated lagoon was a very heavily loaded oxidation pond or a lightly loaded activated sludge system . (William Maxwell, The Chateau....)He did n't , but it was not really a question , and so he left the room , walked down the hall to the front of the apartment , hesitated , and then knocked lightly on the closed door of the study . |
| 3 |
[ adverb ] with little weight or force
Examples "she kissed him lightly on the forehead" Used in print (Ralph B. Long. The Sentence and Its Parts: A...)In I wanted to tell him , but I was afraid to the final to is lightly stressed because it represents to tell him . In the first of these sentences if by is the complement of come and Tuesday is an adjunct of time equivalent_to on Tuesday , there will be strong stress on by in the spoken_language ; but if a complement for come is implied and by Tuesday is a prepositional unit used as an adjunct , by will be unstressed or lightly stressed at_most . |
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[ adverb ] with few burdens
Synonyms Examples "experienced travellers travel light" Used in print (Mr. America, 4:6...)When the front knee is straight and locked , allow it to bend again until you feel the bar come lightly into contact with the sides of the Power_Stands . |
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