EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

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

AdverbEdit

mainly (not comparable)

  1. 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.
  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.]

SynonymsEdit

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

AnagramsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

AdverbEdit

mainly

  1. Alternative form of maynly