slightly

English

Etymology

slight +‎ -ly

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslaɪtli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtli
• Hyphenation: slight‧ly

Adverb

slightly (comparative more slightly, superlative most slightly)

1. Slenderly; delicately.

   He was slightly built, but tall.

2. (degree) To a small extent or degree.

   Synonyms: a little, marginally, somewhat, not much

   Antonyms: quite, very

   He weighed slightly less than his wife who was a foot shorter.

Usage notes

Slightly is often used by the English to mean almost the opposite, something like rather. For example, "The big picture here of course is that still staggeringly low numbers of these migrants are being hired though, isn't it? And despite these rather positive tales we've just heard, there seems to be a broader, slightly grimmer picture which perhaps will have a lesson for other countries thinking of receiving migrants." (Ed Butler on BBC Business Daily, Sept. 23, 2016)

Derived terms

• slightly-enriched uranium

Translations

slenderly

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瘦 (zh) (shòu)

• Finnish: hennosti
• French: finement (fr), délicatement (fr)
• Portuguese: finamente
• Turkish: azıcık (tr)

to a small extent or degree

• Arabic:

  Tunisian Arabic: دوبلاش (dūbillāš)

• Bulgarian: едва (bg) (edva)
• Catalan: lleugerament (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 略微 (zh) (lüèwēi), 稍微 (zh) (shāowēi)

• Dutch: lichtelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: iomete, etete
• Finnish: hieman (fi)
• French: légèrement (fr)
• Galician: lixeiramente (gl), levemente
• German: ein wenig (de), leicht (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὀλίγον (olígon), ἦκα (êka)

• Hungarian: kissé (hu), kicsit (hu), egy kicsit (hu), némileg (hu), valamelyest (hu), enyhén (hu), (with a comparative adjective) valamivel (hu), kicsivel, egy kicsivel, valamennyivel
• Ido: poke (io)
• Italian: leggermente (it)
• Japanese: 少し (ja) (sukoshi)
• Korean: 조금 (ko) (jogeum), 약간 (ko) (yakgan)
• Macedonian: малку (mk) (malku), малкуцка (malkucka)
• Maori: tata
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lett (no), litt (no), svakt, lettere (no)

• Polish: trochę (pl), nieco (pl)
• Portuguese: ligeiramente (pt), um pouco (pt)
• Romanian: puțin (ro), ușor (ro)
• Russian: немно́го (ru) (nemnógo), слегка́ (ru) (slexká)
• Sanskrit: ईषत् (sa) (īṣat)
• Spanish: levemente, ligeramente (es)
• Swedish: aningen (sv), något (sv)
• Tok Pisin: liklik
• Turkish: biraz (tr), hafif (tr), hafifçe (tr)
• Ukrainian: зле́гка (zléhka), ледь (ledʹ), тро́хи (tróxy)
• Vietnamese: hơi (vi)
• Zhuang: loq