safely

safely — adverb

1. without causing or receiving harm, damage, loss, or risk

1.adverbB1
Definition

without causing or receiving harm, damage, loss, or risk

Example

The children arrived safely at school after the snow storm.

arrive safely — travel without harm

Christopher called his mother to tell her he had landed safely in Tokyo.

Common collocations
  • arrive safely
  • return safely
  • drive safely
  • land safely
  • keep safely
  • store safely
  • can safely say
  • can safely assume
  • can safely conclude
Synonyms
  • securely

    focuses on protection from theft or unauthorised access, not general physical safety

  • without incident

    more formal; emphasises that nothing went wrong during a journey or event

Antonyms
  • dangerously

    in a way that could cause harm or risk

  • recklessly

    in a way that ignores danger or takes unnecessary chances

Grammar Patterns

verb + safely (manner)

can safely + verb (epistemic)

Usage Note

Has two main patterns: (1) with verbs of movement or action (arrive, drive, keep) to mean without physical harm or loss; (2) with verbs of thinking or speaking (say, assume, conclude) to mean with good reason and little risk of being wrong.

Common Mistakes

I arrived safe after the long flight.
I arrived safely after the long flight.
Use the adverb 'safely' to describe how an action is done, not the adjective 'safe'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

"Safely" is the most general word, covering physical protection, avoiding loss, and being reasonably certain. "Securely" focuses on protection from theft or unauthorised access — you store valuables securely in a locked drawer, or connect to a website securely. "Without incident" is more formal and emphasises that nothing undesirable happened during a process or event; it is not used for epistemic meanings (you cannot say "I can say without incident"). "With confidence" matches the epistemic use of "safely" ("I can safely assume" ≈ "I can assume with confidence") but cannot replace the physical-safety uses: you arrive safely, not *with confidence.

securelywithout incidentwith confidence

Common collocations

Phrases

  • arrive safely
  • return safely
  • drive safely
  • land safely
  • keep something safely
  • can safely say
  • can safely assume
  • can safely conclude

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Formed from the adjective "safe" (meaning 'free from harm') and the adverb suffix "-ly". "Safe" comes from Old French "sauf", which traces back to Latin "salvus" meaning 'uninjured, healthy, whole'. The epistemic use — saying something 'can safely be said' — appeared in English by the 1600s, extending the idea of physical safety to intellectual certainty.