MAINLY Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

mainly

adverb

ˈmān-lē

Definition of mainly

as in mostly

for the most part you mainly need to focus on improving your golf swing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of mainly Heavy lifting for energy The ring crane will mainly support nuclear construction, where increasingly larger components demand more lifting power. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026 Privacy, once treated mainly as a regulatory requirement, is becoming a competitive feature in digital payments. — Sean Stein Smith, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026 By the late 1970s, Cullen had pivoted mainly to voicing animation projects. — Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2026 The second floor would be used mainly for private events, such as for corporate gatherings and weddings. — Steve Zalusky, Chicago Tribune, 27 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for mainly

Recent Examples of Synonyms for mainly

Adverb

Details of the contract have been mostly kept secret, as both companies said the agreement contained confidential business information.

— Sydney Sasser, Arkansas Online, 1 Sep. 2026
Decades later, buses helped desegregate schools, hauling Black and white children across the country’s racial divide, a controversial practice that has mostly ended.

— Jeff McMurray, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of mostly

Adverb

Summary The Toronto Blue Jays are struggling to meet high expectations this season, primarily due to the unexpected offensive slump of star Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

— Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Diamondback Energy Mehta is also bullish on Diamondback Energy, an independent oil and natural gas company focused on energy reserves that are primarily in the Permian Basin in West Texas.

— TipRanks.com Staff, CNBC, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of primarily

Adverb

Many of the dozens missing in its environs were foreign nationals, chiefly Indian or Indian-origin pilgrims who were returning from, or preparing to make, the journey further into Tibet to Mount Kailash, a holy site for Hindus and Buddhists.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Today, other drugs are more often deployed, chiefly benzodiazepines or the benzodiazepine Clonazepam, which also render a person zombie-like and more reliably submissive.

— Mattha Busby, Rolling Stone, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of chiefly

Adverb

In the beginning, the team largely focused on fatal drunk-driving cases, Cherney said.

— Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, Texas is moving away from a system that based special education funding largely on where and how students received services.

— Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of largely

Adverb

Two years later, Wong became one of the key leaders of the city’s Umbrella Movement protests that rallied thousands of predominantly young people to the streets to call for greater democracy by blocking major thoroughfares for 79 straight days.

— Chris Lau, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026
If the night had ended after that soaring anthem, few in the heavily female and predominantly middle-aged crowd could have complained.

— Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of predominantly

Adverb

This rising use of AI has principally been spurred by the evolving advances and widespread adoption of generative AI and LLMs such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and others.

— Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Massachusetts should examine whether programs operating under the banner of victim services remain principally accountable to victims.

— Laurie Myers, Boston Herald, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of principally

Adverb

Yet France’s challenges ahead are in many ways the same as California’s — most basically, just how to survive a hotter, more volatile climate with fire dangers that far exceed what was normal just a generation ago.

— Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
The concept is basically like a solar eclipse; a coronagraph blocks out the glare of a star such that anything around that star can come into focus.

— Monisha Ravisetti, Space.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of basically

Adverb

Kristen Fisher said families generally were told simply that there were some staffing changes at the facility.

— Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026
Thematic methodologies have been one of the downfalls of contemporary museology (and art history) generally, a crisis of collective memory and the historical imagination overall.

— George Baker, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of generally

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mainlands

mainly

main man

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“Mainly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mainly. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of mainly

adverb

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