mostly
English
Alternative forms
- mostlie (obsolete)
- moastly (obsolete)
Etymology
most + -ly.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈməʊstli/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmoʊstli/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -əʊstli, (General American) -oʊstli
Adverb
mostly (not comparable)
- Mainly or chiefly; for the most part; usually, generally, on the whole.
- They're mostly good people, although they have made a few mistakes.
- 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 72-3:
- Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
- (obsolete) To the greatest extent; most.
- 1817 December, [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 1818, OCLC 318384910:
- She was to be their chosen visitor, she was to be for weeks under the same roof with the person whose society she mostly prized [...]!
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Synonyms
- (mainly or chiefly): by and large, in the main, more often than not, largely, predominantly, principally; see also Thesaurus:mostly
Translations
for the most part
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