Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In a basic way; fundamentally or essentially: Throughout the ordeal, he remained basically the same.
- adv. For the most part; chiefly: They basically do what they are supposed to.
Wiktionary
- adv. in a fundamental, essential or basic manner
WordNet 3.0
- adv. in essence; at bottom or by one's (or its) very nature
Examples
“His use of the term "basically altruistic" is surely intended to be provocative, but what the economist means is that terrorists are often acting out of a desire to help others in their group.”
“Meanwhile, for now, the critical challenges remain basically the same—though I'm very hesitant to say that, and of course "basically" is a big word, really just a hedge against being dead wrong before they even close the casket.”
“Sarkozy was insulted by a member of the crowd, and with the cameras still rolling muttered, "Casse-toi, pauvre con" -- which basically translates as buzz off, jackass.”
Elizabeth Bard: Paris Notebook: A Day at the Salon d'Agriculture
“Now, the dialect is a little tricky here, but it basically translates as:”
Nunc Scio » Blog Archive » Westboro Baptist Church to picket Greyhound bus victim’s funeral
“It's all far too boring and ridiculous to go into, but basically it's overheating pretty much constantly, and all signs are pointing to something head-gaskety, which in case you don't know basically translates as "horrendously expensive".”
“One week of that I spent visiting my Mum "up north" as we Canadians like to say -- it basically translates as "more northerly, colder and uncivilized than where I am currently located... suckaz", but other than that I don't have much of an excuse.”
“The term basically means 'uttering to the public' and is capable of the widest application.”
Book & Print in New Zealand: A Guide to Print Culture in New Zealand
“The name basically nailed it for us, says Andy Greenhouse, director of the Lost Picture Show, a replica of a classical picture house enclosed in a festival-ready tent, agrees.”
“The 'adverse event rate' basically translates as "how many procedures have gone wrong?”
“The term basically means that we are a very flexible force,”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘basically’.
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Eesily missspellable words
absence, abundance, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, across and 420 more...
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Adverbia
A long list of adverbs, beginning with full-drive. Someone has to list them.
Read some sniping and some informative commentary about adverbs here.
Reesetee's list Conjunctive Adv...full-drive, portentously, unlawfully, legally, heterogeneously, consumingly, clancularly, inconsolably, prepositionally, retrogressively, symptomatically, decrepitly and 2243 more...
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amox's list
macho, miasma, isle of langerhans, lipid, fractious, insipid, stentorian, slurpy, henbane, hag fish, hex sign, ranunculus and 9 more...
seanahan I hear it misused a lot as "mostly". Dec 13, 2006
mikepurvis I just love the comedic value of this one what you tack it onto some other adjective. The meal wasn't just inedible, it was *basically* inedible: inedible at its most basic level. Dec 13, 2006
super-ken Worst misused word, ever. Dec 9, 2006