Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🪶 Gently 😏 Without care 🥗 With moderation
lightly

lightly

2 1.0
With only a small amount of food or drink
  • adverb
  • /ˈlaɪtli/
: con moderación
  • He only ate lightly at dinner, opting for a small portion of pasta.

So this one says you can go lightly with this one or go all in.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I'm just going to lightly stipple a translucent powder over top.

  • Little real techniques fan brush and I'm just lightly dusting it off.

  • So just going to very lightly apply that through the ends.

  • And then we're just going to go right under here and just lightly press it in.

  • Oh OK, going to lightly brush through it.

  • I'm going to very lightly place this in the inner corner.

  • I'm going to take a foundation brush and just lightly place this on the skin.

  • And then you can use this lightly just under the cheekbone.

  • Yes, and I'm just going to lightly fill in my brows.

  • Then you'll take this Narconal and lightly coat each glass.

    Death Becomes Her (1992)

Synonyms

sparingly
vslightly
14 3.5

Using only a small amount

is about small consumption rather than general limitation
temperately
vslightly
1 6.5

Act in a calm way without doing too much

focuses on taking only small amounts of food or drink
sparely
vslightly
1 3.9

Using only a small amount

emphasizes small intake rather than scarcity of supplies
abstemiously
vslightly
  • Formal
1 9.1

Eating and drinking in a moderate way

is moderate, allowing only small amounts rather than strict avoidance

Antonyms

heavily
481 1.0

To a large degree or too much

excessively
30 3.0

To a degree that is more than needed or acceptable

gluttonously
1 7.6

In a way that makes someone eat or drink too much

Compounds

lightly-armed
  • Specialized
3 5.3

With only small weapons and no heavy guns

lightly armored
  • Specialized
1 6.7

With thin armor that protects against small weapons but not heavy ones

How Indulgent

gluttonously
1 7.6
freely
232 1.0
moderately
44 2.8
lightly
2 1.0
sparingly
14 3.5

Surface Forms

lightly positive

Morphology

lightly = light (transparent) = light + ly

The sense 'with moderation' follows from 'light' meaning 'not abundant' plus the adverbial '-ly', a direct and regular derivation.

Etymology

Lightly comes from light ('not full or heavy') combined with -ly, so it can mean 'with only a small amount'. That's why to eat or drink lightly means to have only a little of something or to do so in a moderate way.