How to Use merely in a Sentence

merely

adverb

• But that has to be merely the start of it.
  — Sam McDowell 27, Kansas City Star, 27 Jan. 2026
• Levy’s books can cut; this one merely oozes.
  — Emily Cox, ARTnews.com, 22 May 2026
• The Knicks merely need to right their wrongs.
  — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2026
• My sense of this is merely a feeling.
  — Literary Hub, 26 June 2026
• The drama merely moves from off the field to on it.
  — Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2026
• Their answer is merely to kick the can down the road.
  — Gary Franks, Hartford Courant, 22 Jan. 2026
• In response to my prod, the bot merely teeters.
  — James Vincent, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
• All of these steps are not merely about winning the next war.
  — ABC News, 6 May 2026
• Those on-air allies were not merely friends.
  — Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 18 June 2026
• The club has not merely been unlucky.
  — Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 May 2026
• But these are merely customs, not rules.
  — Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 27 June 2026
• Proof is not merely a standard.
  — Literary Hub, 26 June 2026
• The leader is merely the guide.
  — Harrison Monarth, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
• But if this sounds merely like an all-day serving of camp, don’t be fooled.
  — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 June 2023
• Or is this merely the crest of a wave that’s been building for a long while now?
  — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2026
• That’s merely cherry-on-top stuff.
  — Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2026
• Miss Manners notes this merely to grease the wheel of life.
  — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 24 Dec. 2025
• She was merely singled out due to her age and gender.
  — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Feb. 2026
• The blockades of the past are merely a prelude to those to come.
  — Robert Moor, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
• That was merely a warmup for what Kriger calls one of the worst days of her life.
  — Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 20 Aug. 2025
• Do not view your first job out of college as merely a source of income.
  — Vikram Joshi, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
• And that’s after Tatum merely showed up on the court.
  — Zach Harper, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2026
• The goal is no longer merely to get rest, the new branding suggests.
  — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 12 Oct. 2023
• What was once dismissed as merely pop could now be anointed as art.
  — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 15 Jan. 2026
• This requires more than merely tweaking tax rates around the edges.
  — Lou Rinaldi, Hartford Courant, 26 Jan. 2026
• Instead of a chest wound with heavy bleeding, the man merely has a sore leg.
  — Tommy Trenchard, NPR, 19 May 2024
• And the fact that most items are sold at an affordable price is merely just a bonus.
  — Sophie Dweck, Town & Country, 24 Feb. 2023
• Phones are merely a tool to take down someone's number.
  — Bernadette Keith, Travel + Leisure, 19 Oct. 2025
• This must be a practice, not merely a slogan.
  — Amy Stoddard, Baltimore Sun, 1 June 2026
• Labor merely wants a close to break-even contract.
  — John Dias, CBS News, 9 May 2026