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
Etymologies
- From basic + -ally (Wiktionary)
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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amox's list
macho, miasma, isle of langerhans, lipid, fractious, insipid, stentorian, slurpy, henbane, hag fish, hex sign, ranunculus and 9 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
aliko's Words
deli, turkey, bodrum, deniz, sunny, seks, tatil, hava, zeeman, captain, kapitein, kaptan and 256 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Adverbia
A long list of adverbs, beginning with full-drive. Someone had to list them. This list in continued in the list More Adverbia.
Read some sniping and some informative commentary about a...full-drive, portentously, unlawfully, legally, heterogeneously, consumingly, clancularly, inconsolably, prepositionally, retrogressively, symptomatically, decrepitly and 2460 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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mikepurvis's Words
consequentially, outrageous, shindig, mediocre, quintessential, vigilante, fabulous, ostentatious, pedantry, in the wild, buffet, amorphous and 122 more...
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Words that I use far too often
I do, actually...
inappropriate, actually, totally, intrigued, over the top, bloody hell, fuck, hopefully, absolutely, takes the biscuit, takes the biscuit, basically and 1 more...
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for me not to overuse when public-spe...
um, ah, if you will, sort of, well, so, kind of, like, you know, man, dude, totally and 11 more...
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the hate list
words that give me the heebidie jeebidies
suffragette, get 'er done, fringe, causeway, twee, jumper, tgif, actually, syringe, seltzer, raisin, whited sepulchre and 72 more...
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Words I suspect myself of overusing
amazing, intrinsic, incredibly, fascinating, totally, completely, definitely, fantastic, absolutely, remotely, really, hitherto and 16 more...
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Words often used by stupid people to ...
obviously, like, um, basically, you know, sort of, well, kind of, maybe, right, probably, possibly and 10 more...
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Loathing with the fury of a thousand ...
Words or concepts I find distasteful.
epistemological, deontological, synergies, prima facie, perhaps, concur, per se, holistic, cliché, constructivist, haitch, postmodern and 17 more...
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My Favorite Words
I have a little book where I have been collecting favorite words, now I can add them here!
true, tentacles, abundance, ample, abacus, busted, foxy, bangkok, somnambulists, equipped, nectar, sanctum and 10 more...
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Ruthless's Words
basically, vehicle, alight, observed, residence, negative results, roadway
Tweets
Looking for tweets for basically.
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