idly
Acting idly means behaving in a lazy, slow, or aimless way. Your idea of a perfect vacation might be lying idly on the beach all day.
If you're idly chatting with your friend, there's a casual, nonchalant tone to your conversation, and if you lounge idly on the couch on Saturday morning, you're lazing around with no real purpose. The adverb idly describes any action that isn't particularly active, and it comes from idle, "lazy or unemployed," and its Germanic root meaning "worthless."
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in an idle manner“this is what I always imagined myself doing in the south of France, sitting idly, drinking coffee, watching the people”synonyms: lazily
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Vocabulary lists containing idly
The year is 1773, and fourteen-year-old Johnny is an apprentice silversmith in Boston. When a terrible accident threatens his future, Johnny must quickly adapt — just as the American colonists join forces to break free from British rule.
Jess and Leslie spend their free time playing in the fantasy land of Terabithia; but when tragedy strikes, one of them will have to learn to cope with loss in the real world.
Karana's people have left her behind on the island where she was born. Now she must learn to survive while contending with fearsome wild dogs, an unforgiving landscape, and her own loneliness.