Standard Lemma guide

partly

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • General-American: /ˈpɑɹtli/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɑːtli/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)tli
  • CMU ARPABET: P AA1 R T L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In part, or to some degree, but not completely.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • They had partly finished the house, so they could move in before winter.
  • The car was partly visible in the garage.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: feckly, in part, imperfectly, incompletely, partly, partially, partwise, somedeal, somewhat, to an extent, to some extent, unfully

Antonyms: absolutely, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, blind, altogether, at large, at length, cap-a-pie, categorically, completely, detailly, downright, entirely, exhaustively, finally, first and last, flat-out, flat out, from aardvark to zymurgy, from A to Z, from head to toe, from soup to nuts, from stem to stern, from the rooter to the tooter, from top to bottom, from top to toe, fully, handsomely, heartily, head to foot, head to tail, head to toe, hook, line, and sinker, in detail, in full, lock, stock, and barrel, one hundred percent, out-and-out, out and out, outright, particularly, perfectly, plumb, properly, purely, quite, right, root and branch, soundly, soup-to-nuts, straight up, through and through, top to tail, top to toe, totally, totes, to the bone, to the core, to the full, utterly, well and truly, whole, whole cloth, wholly

2

adverb

Meaning 2

in part; in some degree; not wholly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • I felt partly to blame
  • He was partially paralyzed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: partially, part

Antonyms: wholly

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English part Middle English -ly English -ly English partly From part + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: մասամբ (masamb) — in part
  • Belarusian: частко́ва (častkóva) — in part
  • Bulgarian: частично (častično) — in part
  • Bulgarian: отчасти (otčasti) — in part
  • Chinese Mandarin: 部分地 (bùfèn de) — in part
  • Czech: částečně — in part
  • Danish: delvis — in part
  • Dutch: deels — in part
  • Dutch: gedeeltelijk — in part
  • Esperanto: parte — in part
  • Finnish: osittain — in part
  • French: en partie — in part
  • German: teilweise — in part
  • German: zum Teil — in part
  • Greek: μερικώς (merikós) — in part
  • Greek: εν μέρει (en mérei) — in part
  • Hebrew: חלקי (chelki) — in part
  • Hungarian: részben — in part
  • Japanese: 部分的に (bubunteki ni) — in part
  • Japanese: 一部 (ichibu) — in part
  • Latin: partim — in part
  • Macedonian: делумно (delumno) — in part
  • Plautdietsch: deelwiess — in part
  • Polish: częściowo — in part
  • Polish: po części — in part
  • Polish: w części — in part
  • Portuguese: em parte — in part
  • Russian: части́чно (častíčno) — in part
  • Russian: отча́сти (otčásti) — in part
  • Spanish: en parte — in part
  • Spanish: en cierto modo — in part
  • Swedish: dels — in part
  • Ukrainian: частко́во (častkóvo) — in part
  • Ukrainian: поча́сти (počásty) — in part
Real reading context

partly in complete knowledge articles