loosely

adverb

loose·​ly ˈlüs-lē 

: in a loose manner

loosely attached

a collection of loosely connected stories

His shoes are set tidily together in a corner with his socks draped loosely across them.

—Felix Carroll

Texting freed a generation from the strictures and inconvenience (and awkwardness) of phone calls, while allowing people to be more loosely and constantly connected.

—Jenna Wortham

The novel is loosely based on the life of Georgia O'Keeffe.

Loosely translated from Japanese, umami means delicious or yummy.

—N. Seppa

Examples of loosely in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That flattened front-end design is lifted loosely from the GT1 Le Mans racer, while the back half has tinges of the 959. — Caleb Jacobs, The Drive, 15 Oct. 2026

The mystery comedy, loosely inspired by the 1989 film starring Tom Hanks, follows a married couple whose move into the husband's childhood home exposes unsettling secrets in their seemingly quiet suburban neighborhood. — Danielle Minnetian, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2026

Asked how to square those four shifts, with more CEOs planning cuts and more also retraining, redesign roles and hire for AI, Walsh said to read the numbers loosely. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2026

Mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which has been rising sharply on higher oil prices and growing concerns in the global economy. — Diana Olick, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing loosely

• broadly/loosely define
• loosely base on

Rhymes for loosely

• diffusely
• obtusely
• profusely