1

I want to say something along these lines:

"With Coronavirus spreading globally, people are starting to faintly understand the situation that the slaves were going through every day ... the fear, the uncertainty, ... "

So, my question is, what word can I use to imply a little bit of understanding and not a deep one. thanks in advance and excuse my poor English please.

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    I would just use dimly instead of faintly there, but it may be better to recast the sentence to something like: "... people are starting to acquire the barest understanding of what the slaves were going through ..." Lots of ways to say this.
    – Robusto
    Commented Mar 16, 2020 at 14:47
  • 1
    Dimly is a good choice; it invokes the Vision metaphor for understanding. But why not avoid the adverb altogether and just say are beginning to understand? You can add dimly for emphasis, but that's what it means anyway; you start out dim and get brighter, hopefully.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Mar 16, 2020 at 16:37

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

There are multiple options that work fairly well.

  • somewhat
  • vaguely
  • partially
  • kind of (or kinda)
  • sort of (or sorta)

Google's NGrams shows that faintly is less common than any of those.

Improve this answer
1

Yes, there's no really suitable single-word antonym for 'fully' in 'fully understand' here. 'Partially' is rather weak. 'Faintly' is better here, but I'd use:

With Coronavirus spreading globally, people are starting to understand, in a small measure, the situation that the slaves were going through every day....

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    I vaguely understand calculus.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Mar 16, 2020 at 14:23
  • 1
    Yes; I'd use 'vaguely' with that example.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 16, 2020 at 16:18

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.