thinly

adv

Etymology: From Middle English þynnelich (“with thin material; thinly”); equivalent to thin + -ly.

1. In a thin, loose, or scattered manner; scantily; not thickly.

   “The surroundings become bleak in the extreme as the timber line is approached and trees give place to thinly scattered birches that are little more than bushes.”

   “Brüno was a case of diminishing returns, intermittently amusing but not nearly as bracing or funny as Borat—it didn’t help that Brüno was the most thinly conceived of all his Da Ali G Show characters—and the lead-up to Baron Cohen’s new comedy, The Dictator, made it look like he’d boxed himself into a corner.”

2. Barely; hardly; with little attempt to conceal.

   “a thinly-veiled attack on my integrity”

   “a thinly disguised attempt at sabotage”