Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Above all; especially.
- adv. Almost entirely; mainly.
- adj. Of or relating to a chief: chiefly responsibilities.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to a chief; proper to a chief.
- Principally; above all; in the first place; eminently.
- For the most part; mostly: as, his estates were chiefly situated in Scotland.
- Synonyms Mainly, especially, eminently, primarily.
Wiktionary
- adv. focus especially or primarily; above all
- adv. focus mainly or principally; almost entirely
- adj. of, or relating to a chief
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. In the first place; principally; preëminently; above; especially.
- adv. For the most part; mostly.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. for the most part
Etymologies
- chief + -ly (Wiktionary)
Examples
“That many popular historical writers used this term chiefly because it was fashionable, can also be derived from the fact that they did not attribute to it a very distinctive meaning.”
“It is a term chiefly applied to ghosts; but Mr. Gum was a great deal more like a ghost than like a man.”
“In this sense it is nearly synonymous with large j and they are often used indiscriminately, but with some difference of meaning .j for as target a term chiefly employedto detiote”
“So we see that the Greek word "chiefly" chosen by the Septuagint scholars to mean parthenos is the word bethulah, which Mr. Orbaum stresses is "the Hebrew word for virgin.”
“The president hailed as the most gifted communicator since Ronald Reagan has suffered chiefly from the inability to tell a convincing story.”
“As to critiquing stories, remember that what you are doing, chiefly, is responding to a story as a reader.”
“The candles, pictures, images, rosary, holdy water, ringing of bells, chanting in an unknown tongue -- all these mummeries which are so conspicuous in a Catholic service interest me chiefly from the fact”
“But it chiefly is a weapon against innovation, against new ideas, any ideas.”
Caught in the Crossfire: Adrian Scott and the Politics of Americanism in 1940s Hollywood
“Our knowledge of oldest Arab verse is drawn chiefly from the Katáb al-Aghání”
“The coin chiefly used at market is a piece of copper silvered, that passes for seven sols and a half; another of the same sort, valued two sols and a half.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chiefly’.
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exemplifying
above all, chiefly, with attention to, especially, particularly, singularly, primacy, primarily, for instance, in particular, markedly, namely, and 42 more...
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devon.varoz
furnish, revolver, mezzanine, use, chiefly, fatherland, space, pastoral, egg, whitely, disco, squalor and 1 more...
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GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
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Prosie: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Ad...
(Given Saturday, March 4, 1865, Washington, D.C.)
Fellow-Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended a...with all nations, among ourselves, a just and lastin..., cherish, achieve, to do all, for his widow and..., to care for him w..., to bind up the na..., let us strive on ..., with firmness in ..., with charity for all and 169 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Poetrie: An Unusual Feast
Poetrie #1. Don't you hate it when your hosts have you over for dinner... literally?
The Walrus and the Carpenter
by Lewis Carroll
The sun was shining on the sea,
Sh...pleasant, streaming, trot, deaf, dismal, chiefly, chat, sealing-wax, conveniently, frothy, odd, oyster-bed and 6 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for chiefly.
devonvaroz Thanks, E.B. White. Dec 12, 2010