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

Examples of slowly in a Sentence

Things are slowly getting better. walked slowly toward the ringing phone

Recent Examples on the Web There's a lot that Lindsay Duran has been thinking about as some of her coworkers are slowly starting to come back to the office. — Terry Collins, USA TODAY, 3 June 2021 After a two-week suspension, stores are slowly starting to bring back Pokemon cards, but with limits on when they can be sold and how many customers can purchase each day. — Blake Morgan, Forbes, 3 June 2021 Now that life is slowly returning to normal, the mayor has announced that his first State of the City address will come in the form of a citywide mailing. — John Benson, cleveland, 3 June 2021 Safety: Starting slowly is crucial to avoiding injuries. — Washington Post, 2 June 2021 Some media industry employees are returning to offices, slowly. — Brian Stelter, CNN, 2 June 2021 Indeed, workers are returning more slowly than guests, leading hotels to offer perks such as signing bonuses in an effort to boost hiring. — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 2 June 2021 From Lima to New Delhi, there is a deepening divergence with a rich world that is slowly returning to normal thanks to coronavirus vaccines. — Ryan Dube, WSJ, 29 May 2021 With restrictions slowly starting to lift as the coronavirus pandemic starts to ease, communities are getting back to their yearly traditions, including Memorial Day celebrations. — Sahi Padmanabhan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 May 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'slowly.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.