mainly A2 Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈmeɪnli/ UK /ˈmeɪnli/ See IPA manual Freq #6133 Meanings 1 adv For the most part; chiefly. The audience was mainly made up of young students. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adv · for the most part; chiefly. in the mainchiefly More mostlyprincipally Word family Related forms amain Common collocations used mainly Verb + adverb Etymology AI details From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly. *megʰ- Proto-Indo-European maynly Middle English View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Register & Style External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # mainly **Type:** Word **Level:** A2 **Part of speech:** adv **IPA (US):** /ˈmeɪnli/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈmeɪnli/ **Frequency rank:** 6133 ## Meanings 1. For the most part; chiefly. ## Examples - The audience was mainly made up of young students. ## Synonyms - mostly - principally ## Related Forms - amain ## Roots and Affixes - Root: *megʰ- - Root: maynly ## Etymology From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly. ## AI Etymology Mainly comes from Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly. In present-day English it covers for the most part; chiefly. The historical chain runs through *megʰ- (Proto-Indo-European) and maynly (Middle English). Related and derived forms include amain. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Register & Style markdown