adv
Meaning 1
Chiefly; for the most part.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
mainly
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
UK: /ˈmeɪnli/
-
Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
homophone: Mainely
-
rhymes with -eɪnli
-
CMU ARPABET: M EY1 N L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adv
Meaning 2
Forcefully, vigorously.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 3
Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 4
To a great degree; very much.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 5
for the most part
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he is mainly interested in butterflies
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: chiefly, principally, primarily, in the main
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly.
Across languages
Translations
58 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: غَالِبًا (ḡāliban) — chiefly; for the most part
- Bashkir: башлыса (başlısa) — chiefly; for the most part
- Belarusian: гало́ўным чы́нам (halównym čýnam) — chiefly; for the most part
- Bulgarian: главно (glavno) — chiefly; for the most part
- Catalan: principalment — chiefly; for the most part
- Chinese Mandarin: 主要地 (zhǔyào de) — chiefly; for the most part
- Dutch: voornamelijk — chiefly; for the most part
- Esperanto: ĉefe — chiefly; for the most part
- Esperanto: precipe — chiefly; for the most part
- Estonian: peamiselt — chiefly; for the most part
- Estonian: põhiliselt — chiefly; for the most part
- Estonian: peaasjalikult — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: pääosin — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: suurimmaksi osaksi — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: pääasiassa — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: etupäässä — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: pääasiallisesti — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: lähinnä — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: enimmäkseen — chiefly; for the most part
- Finnish: pitkälti — chiefly; for the most part
- French: surtout — chiefly; for the most part
- French: principalement — chiefly; for the most part
- Galician: principalmente — chiefly; for the most part
- Galician: basicamente — chiefly; for the most part
- Galician: fundamentalmente — chiefly; for the most part
- Georgian: ძირითადად (ʒiritadad) — chiefly; for the most part
- German: hauptsächlich — chiefly; for the most part
- Greek: κυρίως (kyríos) — chiefly; for the most part
- Hebrew: בעיקר \ בְּעִקָּר (b'ikár) — chiefly; for the most part
- Hindi: मुख्यतः (mukhyataḥ) — chiefly; for the most part
- Hungarian: főleg — chiefly; for the most part
- Italian: principalmente — chiefly; for the most part
- Italian: sostanzialmente — chiefly; for the most part
- Japanese: おもに (omo ni) — chiefly; for the most part
- Japanese: 主に (omo ni) — chiefly; for the most part
- Korean: 주로 (juro) — chiefly; for the most part
- Norman: prîncipalement — chiefly; for the most part
- Norwegian Bokmål: hovedsakelig — chiefly; for the most part
- Norwegian Bokmål: overveiende — chiefly; for the most part
- Norwegian Nynorsk: hovudsakleg — chiefly; for the most part
- Occitan: principalament — chiefly; for the most part
- Plautdietsch: hauptsechlich — chiefly; for the most part
- Polish: głównie — chiefly; for the most part
- Portuguese: principalmente — chiefly; for the most part
- Romanian: îndeosebi — chiefly; for the most part
- Romanian: mai ales — chiefly; for the most part
- Romanian: mai cu seamă — chiefly; for the most part
- Russian: гла́вным о́бразом (glávnym óbrazom) — chiefly; for the most part
- Russian: в основно́м (v osnovnóm) — chiefly; for the most part
- Spanish: máxime — chiefly; for the most part
- Spanish: mayormente — chiefly; for the most part
- Spanish: máximamente — chiefly; for the most part
- Swedish: huvudsakligen — chiefly; for the most part
- Ukrainian: головни́м чи́ном (holovným čýnom) — chiefly; for the most part
- Ukrainian: перева́жно (perevážno) — chiefly; for the most part
- Ukrainian: го́ловно (hólovno) — chiefly; for the most part
- Volapük: ledino — chiefly; for the most part
- Yiddish: דער עיקר (der iker) — chiefly; for the most part
Real reading context