- in a fundamental or elementary manner; essentially: strident and basically unpleasant
- (sentence modifier) in essence; in summary; put simply: basically we had underestimated mother nature
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ba•si•cal•ly /ˈbeɪsɪkli/USA pronunciation
adv.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- fundamentally;
primarily.
ba•si•cal•ly
(bā′sik lē),USA pronunciation adv.
- fundamentally.
- basic + -ally 1900–05
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
basically /ˈbeɪsɪklɪ/ adv
'basically' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
bottom
- level
- ocellus
- polysomic
- tantamount
- aline
- earth tone
- effect
- flagrant
- hard rock
- heart
- inside
- latch
- optical printer
- quasi-basically
- rebus sic stantibus
- toggle joint
- Tuscan
- white liquor