primarily

adverb

pri·​mar·​i·​ly prī-ˈmer-ə-lē 

 also  prə-,

 chiefly British  ˈprī-mə-rə-lē

1

: for the most part : chiefly

has now become primarily a residential town

—S. P. B. Mais

2

: in the first place : originally

Synonyms

• firstly
• initially
• originally

Examples of primarily in a Sentence

the university was primarily an agricultural college when it was founded over two centuries ago

ketchup is primarily made from tomatoes

Recent Examples on the Web

The rule from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management — which oversees more than 380,000 square miles (990,000 square kilometers) of land, primarily in the U.S. West — will allow public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. —Matthew Brown, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2024

While the original Notebook is primarily framed as an epic love story spanning the boundaries of space and time, the musical has been transmogrified into something quieter, smaller, and arguably more devastating. —Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 19 Apr. 2024

Butcher, a first-generation American whose mother immigrated to the U.S. from Portugal, said her concern is primarily for other parts of the country and less for her own town and state. —USA TODAY, 17 Apr. 2024

But the former Buffalo Bills cornerback acknowledged Wednesday that his decision to join the Carolina Panthers was primarily due to a familiar face. —Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 17 Apr. 2024

Some countries are taking action at the government level to stop the spread of deepfakes, which primarily target women. —Kate Irwin, PCMAG, 16 Apr. 2024

At the same time, childhood gender dysphoria, once a condition primarily affecting small boys, began appearing in a new population in unprecedented numbers: adolescent females with no prior history of gender distress. —The Editors, National Review, 15 Apr. 2024

Black people are also underrepresented, as are people who primarily speak Spanish. —Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2024

The new tools are primarily designed to help engineers understand how families of orbits fit together and to prod them to look for new families where warranted; it’s not meant to substitute for the trajectory-finding techniques that have been honed over decades. —Quanta Magazine, 15 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

primary entry 1 + -ly entry 2

First Known Use

1601, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

primarily

adverb

pri·​mar·​i·​ly prī-ˈmer-ə-lē 

1

: for the most part : chiefly

2

: in the first place : originally