loosely

comparative more loosely · superlative most loosely

1. In a loose manner.

   Then she fell back on the altar and her fingers dangled loosely on its edge, her feet uncrossed and lay beside each other.

   1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 32

   1 more example

   It was an April Fool hoax, of course. 31200 had been rigged up with a single lightweight wooden [name] plate (loosely held on by Blu Tack).

   2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27

2. Not tightly.

   Insert all the bolts loosely, then tighten them.

3. Approximately.

   a comic loosely based on an Old Norse epic

   2 more examples

   It's red, to use the term loosely, sort of brown and sort of orange, let's call it reddish.

   It is loosely adapted by John Hodge from Irvine Welsh’s novel Porno which imagined them coming together again 10 years on; this of course is 20.

   2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: -ish, about, all but, almost, approaching, around, by and large, circa

4. Used to indicate an imprecise use of words; short for loosely speaking

   A whale is, loosely, maybe very loosely, a fish.