Mainly
/ˈmeɪnli/
adverbBeginnerVery CommonGeneral
Meaning
Questions
Definitions
1
For the most part; chiefly; primarily.
/ˈmeɪnli/
adverbneutralBeginner
General
For the most part; chiefly.
The committee is mainly composed of scientists.
💡 Simply: Imagine you're at a pizza party, and you mainly eat pepperoni. This means you eat pepperoni more than any other kind of pizza.
👶 For kids: It means mostly. Like if you mainly play with your toys, you play with them more than other things.
More Examples
2
We are mainly concerned with improving customer satisfaction.
3
The book is mainly about the author's travels.
How It's Used
General
"The tourists visiting the city were mainly from Europe."
Business
"The company's profits come mainly from its international sales."
From 'main' + '-ly'. 'Main' comes from Old English 'mægen' meaning 'power, strength'. The suffix '-ly' indicates 'in a manner or way'.
Used since the late 16th century.