MOSTLY Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

mostly

adverb

ˈmōst-lē

Definition of mostly

as in mainly

for the most part the weather this month has been mostly mild

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of mostly The installation, for example, of a mostly new trove of colonial Spanish American devotional art is one of the current triumphs of LACMA overall. — George Baker, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026 Greenway bought its campus in 2023 from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, which had mostly gone remote by then and would be acquired a year later by the California Institute of the Arts after enrollment declines and multimillion-dollar deficits. — Jon Marcus, NPR, 1 Sep. 2026 Leah wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, and Michael was mostly supportive of the idea. — Ruby Cramer, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026 Basically every device with a battery or power cable these days is emitting some kind of signal, mostly WiFi or Bluetooth. — Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 31 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for mostly

Recent Examples of Synonyms for mostly

Adverb

Done with a cheek swab, blood draw or saliva sample, this testing mainly looks at liver enzymes that affect how the body metabolizes medicines.

— Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 29 Aug. 2026
It’s mainly centered on Billie, who is worried about an old Facebook post standing in the way of finding a job.

— Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of mainly

Adverb

Summary The Toronto Blue Jays are struggling to meet high expectations this season, primarily due to the unexpected offensive slump of star Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

— Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Diamondback Energy Mehta is also bullish on Diamondback Energy, an independent oil and natural gas company focused on energy reserves that are primarily in the Permian Basin in West Texas.

— TipRanks.com Staff, CNBC, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of primarily

Adverb

Many of the dozens missing in its environs were foreign nationals, chiefly Indian or Indian-origin pilgrims who were returning from, or preparing to make, the journey further into Tibet to Mount Kailash, a holy site for Hindus and Buddhists.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Today, other drugs are more often deployed, chiefly benzodiazepines or the benzodiazepine Clonazepam, which also render a person zombie-like and more reliably submissive.

— Mattha Busby, Rolling Stone, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of chiefly

Adverb

In the beginning, the team largely focused on fatal drunk-driving cases, Cherney said.

— Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, Texas is moving away from a system that based special education funding largely on where and how students received services.

— Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of largely

Adverb

Two years later, Wong became one of the key leaders of the city’s Umbrella Movement protests that rallied thousands of predominantly young people to the streets to call for greater democracy by blocking major thoroughfares for 79 straight days.

— Chris Lau, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026
If the night had ended after that soaring anthem, few in the heavily female and predominantly middle-aged crowd could have complained.

— Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of predominantly

Adverb

This rising use of AI has principally been spurred by the evolving advances and widespread adoption of generative AI and LLMs such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and others.

— Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Massachusetts should examine whether programs operating under the banner of victim services remain principally accountable to victims.

— Laurie Myers, Boston Herald, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of principally

Adverb

Yet France’s challenges ahead are in many ways the same as California’s — most basically, just how to survive a hotter, more volatile climate with fire dangers that far exceed what was normal just a generation ago.

— Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
The concept is basically like a solar eclipse; a coronagraph blocks out the glare of a star such that anything around that star can come into focus.

— Monisha Ravisetti, Space.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of basically

Adverb

Kristen Fisher said families generally were told simply that there were some staffing changes at the facility.

— Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026
Thematic methodologies have been one of the downfalls of contemporary museology (and art history) generally, a crisis of collective memory and the historical imagination overall.

— George Baker, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of generally

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“Mostly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mostly. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of mostly

adverb

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