mainly

Etymology

From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly.

adv

  1. Chiefly; for the most part.
    She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 12, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
  2. (obsolete) Forcefully, vigorously.
  3. (obsolete) Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully.
  4. (obsolete) To a great degree; very much.

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