Library / English Dictionary

SMOOTHLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

With no problems or difficulties

Example:

despite of some mishaps, everything went swimmingly

Synonyms:

smoothly; swimmingly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

smooth (lacking obstructions or difficulties)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a smooth and diplomatic manner

Example:

'And now,' he said smoothly, 'we will continue the conversation'

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

smooth (smoothly agreeable and courteous with a degree of sophistication)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The trail it left on the slope has a pattern that suggests the boulder couldn't roll smoothly or straight due to its shape.

(Tall boulder rolls down martian hill, lands upright, NASA)

These cells release inflammatory substances into the synovial fluid, the lubricant that allows joints to move smoothly.

(Joint lubricating fluid plays key role in osteoarthritic pain, University of Cambridge)

Wintertime covers roughly 30 percent of the Earth in a blanket of snow, which means solar panels usually do not operate smoothly in these regions during this season.

(Nanogenerator Creates Electricity from Snowfall, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The reel of silk has run smoothly enough so far; but I always knew there would come a knot and a puzzle: here it is.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It forms a cushion to help the tendon or muscle slide smoothly over the bone.

(Bursitis, NCI Dictionary)

The inhuman editorial machine ran smoothly as ever.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Marianne's illness, though weakening in its kind, had not been long enough to make her recovery slow; and with youth, natural strength, and her mother's presence in aid, it proceeded so smoothly as to enable her to remove, within four days after the arrival of the latter, into Mrs. Palmer's dressing-room.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

As he did so we saw, at the distance of a mile or so, something which appeared to be a huge gray bird flap slowly up from the ground and skim smoothly off, flying very low and straight, until it was lost among the tree-ferns.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Spitzer study suggests that competing theories for hot Jupiter formation — in which gas giants form in situ, or close to their stars, or smoothly spiral inward with the help of planet-forming disks — may be preferred.

(Investigating the Mystery of Migrating 'Hot Jupiters', NASA)

The hut’s walls rose without difficulty, and everything went smoothly until the problem of the roof confronted me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)