slowly

adverb

slow·​ly ˈslō-lē 

: in a slow manner : not quickly, fast, early, rashly, or readily

Slow vs. Slowly: Usage Guide

Some commentators claim that careful writers avoid the adverb slow, in spite of the fact that it has had over four centuries of usage.

have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower

—William Shakespeare

In actual practice, slow and slowly are not used in quite the same way. Slow is almost always used with verbs that denote movement or action, and it regularly follows the verb it modifies.

beans … are best cooked long and slow

—Louise Prothro

Slowly is used before the verb

a sense of outrage, which slowly changed to shame

—Paul Horgan

and with participial adjectives.

a slowly dawning awareness … of the problem

—Amer. Labor

Slowly is used after verbs where slow might also be used

burn slow or slowly

and after verbs where slow would be unidiomatic.

the leadership turned slowly toward bombing as a means of striking back

—David Halberstam

Synonyms of slowly

• cautiously
• slow
• sluggishly
• carefully

Examples of slowly in a Sentence

Things are slowly getting better.

walked slowly toward the ringing phone

Recent Examples on the Web

The Panthers slowly chipped away, and two of Dillard’s three relays carried them to a third straight girls state championship at the FHSAA 3A state track and field finals at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville on Friday. —Gary Curreri, Sun Sentinel, 9 May 2026

The white objects sometimes streaked across the screen in less than a second, while others slowly glided through the air or were followed by the camera. —Seung Min Kim, Chicago Tribune, 8 May 2026

Students around San Diego County on Friday were slowly regaining access to Canvas, an online learning system used on campuses of all grade levels, following a cyberattack that took the education system offline for at least a day. —Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2026

But in uncharacteristic fashion for Musk, xAI moved too slowly into harness engineering, which allows AI models to reach out beyond chat windows and control more operations on a computer. —Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 8 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing slowly

• slowly but surely

Rhymes for slowly

• coaly
• coli
• foley
• folie
• goalie
• holy
• lowly
• moly
• tolly
• wholly
• acholi
• emboli