mainly

  • 1Mainly — Main ly, adv. [From main strong. See {Main} strength.] Very strongly; mightily; to a great degree. [Obs.] Bacon. Shak. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2Mainly — Main ly, adv. [From main principal, chief.] Principally; chiefly. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3mainly — index a fortiori, ab initio, as a rule, generally, particularly Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 4mainly — (adv.) late 13c., vigorously, from MAIN (Cf. main) (adj.) + LY (Cf. ly) (2). Meaning especially is from c.1400; that of for the most part is from 1660s …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 5mainly — *largely, greatly, mostly, chiefly, principally, generally …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 6mainly — [adv] for the most part above all, chiefly, essentially, first and foremost, generally, in general, in the main, largely, mostly, most of all, on the whole, overall, predominantly, primarily, principally, substantially, to the greatest extent,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 7mainly — ► ADVERB ▪ more than anything else; for the most part …

    English terms dictionary

  • 8mainly — [mān′lē] adv. chiefly; principally; in the main …

    English World dictionary

  • 9mainly — adverb as the largest or most important reason, thing, part of something etc: Her illness was caused mainly by worry and stress. | The workforce is mainly made up of women. | the mainly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party (sentence adverb): What did you… …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • 10mainly — main|ly [ meınli ] adverb *** 1. ) used for talking about the largest or most important part of something: This sauce is made mainly of milk and flour. We spent four days there mainly visiting family. mainly because: I didn t come mainly because… …

    Usage of the words and phrases in modern English