Meaning

2 senses
  1. Without specific purpose, intent or effort.

    I idly played with the paper, not even realizing I was folding it into a paper airplane.

  2. In an idle manner.

    in an idle manner

Examples

15 sentences
  1. We can't sit idly by.

  2. He often spends his time idly.

  3. We can't just stand idly by.

    ruМы не можем безучастно стоять в стороне. — Wezel

    deWie können nicht tatenlos zusehen. — al_ex_an_der

  4. You idly listened to your friends chat.

  5. She looked idly out of the window.

    deSie schaute untätig aus dem Fenster. — Esperantostern

Translations

1 languages

Origin

From Middle English idely, ydelly, idelliche, from Old English īdellīċe, equivalent to idl

From Middle English idely, ydelly, idelliche, from Old English īdellīċe, equivalent to idle + -ly.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

more idly, most idly
Comparativemore idly Lesson
Superlativemost idly

regular

Synonyms

1 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

1 related words
Relatedidle

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
idly — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto