How to Use not merely in a Sentence

not merely

phrase

• This is not merely a bigger project.
  — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 5 Mar. 2026
• The book is built around this idea that art can teach us to live, not merely to know.
  — Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 17 Oct. 2025
• Time that is lived, not merely survived.
  — Gilberto Lopes, STAT, 12 Feb. 2026
• This shift is not merely stylistic.
  — Kenneth Zagacki, Sun Sentinel, 17 Mar. 2026
• But Mellon’s taste did not merely run to minks.
  — Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
• Do not merely use the edge of each tile to estimate each row of tile.
  — Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 21 Mar. 2024
• The growing child is cheered, not merely filled, by a dose of risotto.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024
• Jack was deprived not merely of the last days of her childhood, but her very body.
  — Nico Lang, TIME, 9 Oct. 2024
• They are designed to act, not merely to respond.
  — John Sviokla, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
• Kay’s choice was not merely, or even mostly, about money.
  — Charlotte Brooks, Big Think, 13 Mar. 2026
• Floor area ratio measures bulk, not merely height.
  — Chicago Tribune, 2 Mar. 2026
• This is not merely a contest over spheres of influence or lines on a map.
  — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Time, 16 Dec. 2025
• The charge of genocide against Israel is not merely wrong.
  — Oded J K Faran, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025
• The new whiskies are robust and complex in their flavor, not merely spicy like many ryes.
  — Florence Fabricant, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2024
• The change is not merely semantic.
  — Tom Debley, Mercury News, 11 Sep. 2025
• The problem is not merely stylistic.
  — Letters To The Editor, Hartford Courant, 15 Mar. 2026
• Lemon would not merely be the big fish in a small pond, but the only fish among the receiving corps.
  — Michael Salfino, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2026
• In fact, there was a feeling that world football lacked not merely great teams, but great players.
  — Michael Cox, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2025
• But was this cynicism not merely an excuse for a lack of resolve?
  — Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2025
• Wilson was not merely a man of his time who shared its common prejudices.
  — Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 6 Feb. 2024
• Spurs do not merely need someone to come in and lift everyone’s spirits.
  — Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
• This is not merely a DePaul story, of course.
  — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 16 Jan. 2026
• But the novella is not merely about one man’s unrequited love.
  — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
• But a brand’s legacy is not merely built on financial success.
  — Nerisha Penrose, ELLE, 18 Apr. 2023
• It might have been produced, and not merely set, in a torturer’s basement.
  — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
• Soon, Old Glory will have to be born in the land of the free and not merely flying over it.
  — Patrick Whittle, Fortune, 29 July 2024
• This is not merely an accounting problem.
  — Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 13 Apr. 2026
• This is not merely a DePaul story.
  — Arkansas Online, 20 Jan. 2026
• His disappearance could not merely be a function of time because he had not been gone that long.
  — Literary Hub, 21 Jan. 2026
• The danger of this disconnect is not merely a loss of paper wealth for investors.
  — Tristan Bove, Fortune, 24 Feb. 2026