Literary notes about colloquially (AI summary)
The word "colloquially" functions as a signal that the term or phrase in question is understood in everyday, informal language rather than in a formal or technical sense. In legal contexts, for instance, it clarifies that the deed proving sasine is known in popular parlance rather than by its precise legal definition ([1], [2]), while in narrative and journalistic writing it sets off speech that is conversational or regionally known, as when a reporter refers to St. Patrick’s Cathedral by a familiar nickname ([3]) or when characters describe actions in a laid‐back idiom ([4], [5]). Moreover, it is employed to denote that certain grammatical or pronunciation rules are in common use, subtly contrasting them with their more formal counterparts ([6], [7]). Thus, by marking a transition from formal to everyday language usage, "colloquially" actively enriches the reader's understanding of tone and context across a wide range of texts.
- Sasine, in Scots law, the act of giving legal possession of feudal property, or, colloquially, the deed by which that possession is proved.
— from Weir of Hermiston: An Unfinished Romance by Robert Louis Stevenson - sasine, in Scots law, the act of giving legal possession of feudal property, or, colloquially, the deed by which that possession is proved .
— from The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 19 by Robert Louis Stevenson - A Times reporter called up the “Power House,” as St. Patrick’s Cathedral was colloquially termed, reached Dineen himself, and asked for verification.
— from Margaret Sanger: an autobiography. by Margaret Sanger - For some little time the jurymen hang about the Sol's Arms colloquially.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - Strictly, of course, it means knowing how to do things, and doing them; but colloquially it usually means doing them before learning how.
— from From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan - It may be as well to add that, in this Scotch word, the "gh" is pronounced; so that, as used colloquially, the word could never rhyme with "blue.
— from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 1 (of 8) by William Wordsworth - For, speaking colloquially, the professor was finding himself very much "in the air.
— from The Window-Gazer by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
