In a wide manner; across a wide area.
"The new species of butterfly is widely distributed across the southern hemisphere, found from Brazil to South Africa."
In plain English: Widely means something is known, used, or spread across a very large area or by many different people.
"The new smartphone is widely available at most electronics stores."
Usage: Use widely to describe something that occurs or exists over a large geographic area, such as being known in many countries. Avoid confusing it with words like broadly when you specifically mean physical extent rather than general scope.
Widely comes from Middle English wijdly, which combined the word wide with the suffix -ly. The term entered English as an adverb meaning "in a broad manner," directly extending the original sense of being physically expansive.