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mainly. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
mainly, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
mainly in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
mainly you have here. The definition of the word
mainly will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
mainly, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly.
Pronunciation
Adverb
mainly (not comparable)
- Chiefly; for the most part.
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.
- (obsolete) Forcefully, vigorously.
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act (please specify |act=I or II), scene i:Such breadth of ſhoulders as might mainely beare
Olde Atlas burthen, […]
- (obsolete) Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:But in the end, mainly crying out, he fell to raling and wringing his master, upbraiding him that he was not a true Philosopher […].
- (obsolete) To a great degree; very much.
Synonyms
Translations
chiefly; for the most part
- Arabic: غَالِبًا (ḡāliban)
- Bashkir: башлыса (başlısa)
- Belarusian: гало́ўным чы́нам (halóŭnym čýnam)
- Bulgarian: главно (bg) (glavno)
- Catalan: principalment (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 主要地 (zh) (zhǔyào de)
- Dutch: voornamelijk (nl)
- Esperanto: ĉefe (eo), precipe (eo)
- Finnish: pääosin, suurimmaksi osaksi, pääasiassa (fi), etupäässä, pääasiallisesti (fi), lähinnä (fi), enimmäkseen (fi), pitkälti (fi)
- French: surtout (fr), principalement (fr)
- Georgian: ძირითადად (ʒiritadad)
- German: hauptsächlich (de)
- Greek: κυρίως (el) (kyríos)
- Hebrew: בעיקר \ בְּעִקָּר (b'ikár)
- Hungarian: főleg (hu)
- Italian: principalmente (it), sostanzialmente (it)
- Japanese: おもに (ja) (omo ni), 主に (ja) (おもに, omo ni)
- Korean: 주로 (ko) (juro)
- Norman: prîncipalement
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: hovedsakelig (no), overveiende
- Nynorsk: hovudsakleg
- Occitan: principalament
- Plautdietsch: hauptsechlich
- Polish: głównie (pl)
- Portuguese: principalmente (pt)
- Romanian: îndeosebi (ro), mai ales, mai cu seamă
- Russian: гла́вным о́бразом (ru) (glávnym óbrazom), в основно́м (ru) (v osnovnóm)
- Spanish: principalmente (es)
- Swedish: huvudsakligen (sv)
- Ukrainian: головни́м чи́ном (uk) (holovným čýnom), перева́жно (uk) (perevážno), го́ловно (hólovno)
- Volapük: ledino (vo)
- Yiddish: דער עיקר (der iker)
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See also
Anagrams
Middle English
Adverb
mainly
- Alternative form of maynly