Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you say that something is ~ the case, you think that it is likely to be the case, although you are not sure.
The White House ~ won’t make this plan public until July...
Van Gogh is ~ the best-known painter in the world.
ADV: ADV with cl/group vagueness
2.
You can use ~ when you want to make your opinion sound less forceful or definite, so that you do not offend people.
He ~ thinks you’re both crazy!
ADV: ADV with cl/group vagueness