primarily

English

Etymology

From primary +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹaɪˈmɛɹəli/, /ˈpɹaɪmɛɹəli/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adverb

primarily (not comparable)

1. (focus) Of a primary or central nature, first and foremost
   • 1951 October, H. C. Casserley, “Crane Engines”, in Railway Magazine, page 660:

     The idea of fitting a crane to an engine for shunting duties, primarily in works yards, appears to have originated with the North London Railway engine in 1872.

   • 2015 January 1, Sarah Knapton, “Most cancers are caused by bad luck not genes or lifestyle, say scientists”, in The Telegraph‎^[1]:

     But now a study has shown that most cancers are primarily caused by bad luck rather than poor lifestyle choices or defective DNA.

   • 2018 July 20, “Zika virus”, in World Health Organization‎^[2]:

     Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite during the day.

   • 2019 March 15, Keith Melrose, “Our leading tipsters give their fancy for the Cheltenham Gold Cup”, in The Racing Post‎^[3]:

     Some Gold Cups are won primarily with class, others with stamina.

Synonyms

• by and large, chiefly, for the most part; see also Thesaurus:mostly or Thesaurus:above all

Translations

of a primary or central nature

• Azerbaijani: birinci növbədə, əsasən, ilk növbədə
• Belarusian: галоўным чынам (halóŭnym čynam), пераважна (pjeravažna)
• Bulgarian: главно (bg) (glavno), преди всичко (predi vsičko)
• Catalan: primàriament (ca)
• Crimean Tatar: esasen, esas olaraq, çoqusı
• Finnish: pääasiassa (fi), ensisijaisesti (fi), ennen muuta (fi), ennen kaikkea (fi)
• French: principalement (fr), essentiellement (fr), surtout (fr)
• Galician: primariamente
• German: hauptsächlich (de), in erster Linie (de)
• Hungarian: főként (hu), elsősorban (hu)
• Icelandic: aðallega (is), fyrst og fremst
• Italian: principalmente (it), fondamentalmente (it), primariamente (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: primært

  Nynorsk: primært

• Plautdietsch: hauptsechlich
• Romanian: în primul rând, înainte de toate, în principal
• Russian: гла́вным о́бразом (ru) (glávnym óbrazom)
• Spanish: primariamente
• Ukrainian: переважно (uk) (perevažno), головно (holovno)