Library / English Dictionary

PRINCIPALLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

For the most part

Example:

he is mainly interested in butterflies

Synonyms:

chiefly; in the main; mainly; primarily; principally

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

principal (most important element)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Could she be detached from them!—and sometimes I do not despair of it, for the affection appears to me principally on their side.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

On looking over the bank-book I found that the low state of the balance was principally due to large checks which have been made out during the last year to Mr. Cornelius.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Nurses' Health Study was begun in 1976 with the establishment of a cohort of 120,700 women aged 30-55 and was principally designed to assess risk factors for breast cancer.

(Nurses' Health Study, NCI Thesaurus)

This was in part due to Edgar Taylor, who made the first English translation in 1823, selecting about fifty stories “with the amusement of some young friends principally in view.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

An elongated constriction of the lower part of the uterus, located at the junction of the body of the uterus and the cervix, that is composed principally of smooth muscle.

(Isthmus Uteri, NCI Thesaurus)

A myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm of childhood that is characterized by proliferation principally of the granulocytic and monocytic lineages.

(Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

A broad class of substances, principally from mineral sources of non-biological origin, encompassing all those that do not include carbon and its derivatives as their principal elements.

(Inorganic Chemical, NCI Thesaurus)

A cluster of nervous tissue principally composed of neuronal cell bodies external to the central nervous system (CNS).

(Ganglion, NCI Thesaurus)

Cancell (Entelev or Cantron), is a liquid that has been produced in various forms, principally by two manufacturers, since the late 1930s.

(Cancell, NCI Thesaurus)

Denotes a person having origins in any of the countries abutting the Mediterranean Sea, principally those of Europe.

(Mediterranean, NCI Thesaurus)