softly - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English softely, softeliche, equivalent to soft +‎ -ly.

softly (comparative softlier or more softly, superlative softliest or most softly)

In a soft manner; gently.
The masseuse was rubbing my back too softly for my liking, so I asked her to go harder.
- 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:
  He had married a lady well educated and softly nurtured, but not dowered with worldly wealth. […] They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.
Not loudly; nearly inaudibly.
whisper softly in someone's ear
play music softly
With subdued color; faded or misty with distance.
- 1928, Grace Moon, “VII. The Tale of the Sacred Eagle”, in The Runaway Papoose:
  And they sat very still, the two of them, and looked out over that great, beautiful desert—away to the home mesa that they could see, softly blue, in the distance.

softly, gently

not loudly, inaudible