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

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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 But the cops were still jammed up by 2006, mainly because the medical examiner didn’t definitively rule her death a homicide. — Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 31 July 2026 Videos and images from Ceuta showed crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco onto local roads. — Kerry Breen, CBS News, 31 July 2026 The Newsoms reported earning about $341,000 to $417,000 in state wages between 2021 and 2024, mainly from Newsom’s gubernatorial salary. — Lia Russell, Sacbee.com, 31 July 2026 As a result, the restrictions mainly affect new models that have not received authorization. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 31 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for mainly

Recent Examples of Synonyms for mainly

Adverb

In the neighborhood, which is actually the oldest part of Prague, there are mostly residential buildings, embassies, and local offices.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Aug. 2026
Many skeptics see a contradiction in high-achieving, mostly white young voters employing rhetoric about labor and solidarity.

— Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of mostly

Adverb

The Mutiara Sentosa 2 serves the Surabaya-Makassar route, a voyage that typically takes around 40 hours and is primarily used by domestic travelers and cargo transport between the islands of Java and Sulawesi.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026
Beijing in recent years has rapidly expanded mandates for schools in ethnic minority regions to adopt primarily Chinese-language education, starting from kindergarten.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026

Definition of primarily

Adverb

Building a network is capital intensive, requiring continuous, steady investment in both towers and spectrum —- drawing capital away from businesses that investors more richly reward, chiefly AI.

— Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 29 July 2026
But Elliot’s best argument is ultimately himself—chiefly, his own vigorous libido, which his workaholic medical-student girlfriend, Minerva (a deader-than-deadpan Charli XCX), has long since lost interest in satiating.

— Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 July 2026

Definition of chiefly

Adverb

While the lawn remained mostly empty, the reserved seating area was largely full.

— Jamie Graziano, Charlotte Observer, 31 July 2026
That lawsuit names coho salmon, spotted owls, as well as a threatened seabird, the marbled murrelet, which lives largely out at sea but returns to old-growth coastal trees to nest, as species threatened by the change.

— Lizzie Kane, Sacbee.com, 31 July 2026

Definition of largely

Adverb

Back in those early days there was talk of Newcastle winning the Premier League in the next five to 10 years, principally from the mouth of Amanda Staveley, a 10 per cent minority partner of PIF who sold her stake and left Tyneside in July 2024.

— Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2026
Opposition is growing in the soccer world to a plan by the sport’s governing body, FIFA, to spin off its events, principally the World Cup, as a separate commercial entity and invite investors to take a stake in it.

— Leo Barraclough, Variety, 29 July 2026

Definition of principally

Adverb

As the villains, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan are trapped in Z-movie outfits and motivations — Foxx’s Max Diillon is a Spidey fan transformed by an eel attack, DeHaan’s Harry Osborn is basically a vampire.

— Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Aug. 2026
Chicago, with no games, no teams hosted, basically fewer reasons to expect an outsized swell in interest,still saw bar searches nearly quadruple over that period.

— Leo MacLehose, Sportico.com, 31 July 2026

Definition of basically

Adverb

Measles is highly contagious, but the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is highly effective, and protection generally lasts for life.

— Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
The 26-year-old suspect was identified only as a foreign national who has been granted legal asylum, in line with Greece’s strict data protection laws, which generally prohibit authorities from naming criminal suspects without their consent.

— ABC News, ABC News, 4 Aug. 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 5 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of mainly

adverb

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