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

Didymos is shaped like a spinning top and is believed to be a rubble pile asteroid — essentially a collection of dust and rocks loosely held together by gravity. —Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 9 Mar. 2026

Cover the container loosely with plastic wrap or a plastic bag to hold in moisture. —Holly McNamara, Hartford Courant, 7 Mar. 2026

Realism, even loosely defined as movies of people doing observable and possible things, is never simple or uniform. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026

Then there’s Counterpart, the café concept modeled loosely after a vintage club car. —Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Mar. 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