safely

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English savely; equivalent to safe +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈseɪfli/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: safe‧ly

Adverb

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safely (comparative more safely or (rare) safelier, superlative most safely or (rare) safeliest)

  1. In a safe manner; without risk; using caution above all else.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
      With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get []
  2. In a secure manner; without the possibility of injury or harm resulting.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cassock stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
    • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm [], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
      It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way.

Translations

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Anagrams

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