Technically means strictly by the rules, whatever the spirit of them. Technically legal, technically correct, technically speaking.
It nearly always introduces a correction the listener did not want, and it concedes the substance while disputing the letter — technically legal is not a defence anybody enjoys hearing. It also means in the technical sense, which is the neutral use.
1adverbtechnicallyStrictly by the rules, whatever the spirit of them.
“Technically, you're not allowed to park here, but nobody ever checks.”
technically is a qualifier.
Proto-Indo-European
*tetḱ-
Ancient Greek
τεχνικός
English
technical
English, today
technically
Built from
From technical + -ly. technical comes from technicus + -al, from Ancient Greek τεχνικός, from τέχνη (“skill”). For the late 20th-century origin of the noun sense (vehicle), see Wikipedia.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA