mainly
English
Etymology
From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈmeɪnli/
Adverb
mainly (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Forcefully, vigorously. [13th-17th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Mainly they all attonce vpon him laid, / And sore beset on euery side around […]
- (obsolete) Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully. [14th-19th c.]
- (obsolete) To a great degree; very much. [15th-19th c.]
- Chiefly; for the most part. [from 17th c.]
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 12, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- 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.
Synonyms
- (forcefully): energetically, powerfully, strongly
- (loudly): earsplittingly, lustily, raucously, thunderously
- (to a great degree): a lot, extremely
- (for the most part): in the main, principally; see also Thesaurus:mostly
Translations
chiefly; for the most part
See also
Anagrams
Middle English
Adverb
mainly
- Alternative form of maynly
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms suffixed with -ly
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adverbs
- English uncomparable adverbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English focus adverbs
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adverbs