partially
Americanadverb
-
to some degree or in some way or aspect, but not fully or totally; incompletely.
Season three of the sci-fi series would have taken place either partially or completely on Mars.
-
in a way that is biased or prejudiced in favor of one group, side, person, etc., over another.
He did not judge partially, he said, but claimed to mete out justice equally to rich and poor alike.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of partially
Explanation
Partially means part way, not complete. If you’ve partially completed a test when the bell rings, you better work faster to finish up next time! A part is a portion of something, not the whole thing. Similarly, the word partially refers to a part of something only. A partially brick house is not all brick. Anything that is partially true is only true to some degree, like if you tell someone you’re in a band, but really you just carry the guitars. This word means about the same as partly, and the opposite word would be wholly or entirely.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Among them, some 12,000 units were completely or partially destroyed since the truce began.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
The panel in Nicole's case partially upheld two complaints about her coach, but ultimately did not deem the coach to be a current safeguarding risk.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
SpaceX successfully developed a fleet of partially reusable Falcon 9 rockets that allowed it to dominate the global launch market.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Even partially coherent light sources can produce correlated photon pairs, while also transferring some of their own coherence properties to the generated photons.
From Science Daily • May 18, 2026
The eyes were still partially opened, as they had been.
From "The River" by Gary Paulsen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
