1
as in innocently
with purity of thought and deed the devout girl vowed to live her life purely and in the service of God

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in solely
for nothing other than I fish purely for the fun of it—I don't care if I end up with no fish to fry

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

3
as in only
nothing more than her pleasantries were purely for show and masked her true feelings

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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 purely Back in 2020, when bitcoin traded around $10,000, investors saw it as purely speculative, Dixit said, who previously led investor relations at Block. Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2025 The third touchdown is still the most telling, deriving purely from a relationship between quarterback and receiver. Kansas City Star, 31 Oct. 2025 Our International Space Station work also demonstrates the relevance of social science research for solving all kinds of problems – even ones that seem to be purely technical, like living in space. Justin St. P. Walsh, The Conversation, 31 Oct. 2025 Despite the nearly identical nature of her pen name and the name of the conversion therapist, the author said similarities between the two were purely coincidental. Quispe López, Them., 30 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for purely
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purely
Adverb
  • His friend had innocently landed on that scene.
    Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Oct. 2025
  • In a thriller, the suspense is built around a challenge posed to the protagonist — the last big score before retiring, being innocently accused of a crime or accidentally getting involved in something dangerous and deadly.
    Anders de la Motte, PEOPLE, 28 Sep. 2025
Adverb
  • But going into markets relying solely on territory pre-sales alone — once the norm at AFM — is today a rarity, with most packages having some financing already in place to mitigate risk — and jitters.
    Alex Ritman, Variety, 10 Nov. 2025
  • As part of the newsroom, all Alyssa’s work and coverage decisions are overseen solely by Journal Sentinel editors.
    Alyssa N. Salcedo, jsonline.com, 10 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • Not only is her delivery hilarious, but having Forest Whitaker’s daughter play an unabashed Hollywood nepo baby is a sly bit of meta casting that pays off big time here.
    Caroline Framke, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2025
  • The novel draws on the harrowing testimony of survivors and asks questions not only about the conflicting goals of justice, truth and reconciliation, but also about how one lives with the knowledge of crimes against humanity.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • Additionally, the lawsuit alleges Sheriff’s deputies failed to properly search and screen for contraband in the jail, and failed to observe and supervise inmates.
    Emma Hall, Sacbee.com, 11 Nov. 2025
  • In fact, doing it properly is an art form of sorts, with layering requiring the right mix of textures, metals, and ring thicknesses to build out a covetable final look that doesn’t feel burdensome on your finger.
    Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 11 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • Mamdani has also embraced the world of podcasters and influencers, recently hosting a news conference exclusively for content creators that his campaign said was aimed at reaching new and less politically engaged audiences, according to NBC News.
    Khaleda Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
  • This major holiday sale, exclusively for members of Sephora’s Beauty Insider program, is also an exciting time of the year for beauty-lovers looking to save on products that rarely go on sale, including Dyson hair styling tools.
    Tim Chan, Footwear News, 5 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • Leaders in Congress agreed and sent out armadas of patriot privateers to do just that, plundering British shipping around the Atlantic rim and forcing Royal Navy warships to redeploy to convoy duty.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
  • There are also just more bears these days.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • One director of the Innocenti, who came aboard in the mid-fifteen-hundreds, simply stopped assigning girls to outside domestic work, owing to rampant rape and abuse.
    Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Surely there exist teenagers, as confounded by their classmates’ fascination with the number 67 as their parents, who simply Googled it.
    Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2025
Adverb
  • But the bailout merely delayed the inevitable.
    MUHIB RAHMAN, Foreign Affairs, 12 Nov. 2025
  • And the action ranges from dueling card tricks to the kind of honest-to-God fights that merely serve to remind us that balletic action films really are magic tricks.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 11 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Purely.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purely. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.

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