mainly

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmeɪnli/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪnli

Adverb[edit]

mainly (not comparable)

  1. Chiefly; for the most part. [from 17th c.]
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee.
  2. (obsolete) Forcefully, vigorously. [13th–17th c.]
  3. (obsolete) Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully. [14th–19th c.]
  4. (obsolete) To a great degree; very much. [15th–19th c.]

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Adverb[edit]

mainly

  1. Alternative form of maynly