primarily
Americanadverb
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essentially; mostly; chiefly; principally.
They live primarily from farming.
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in the first instance; at first; originally.
Primarily a doctor, he later became a lawyer.
adverb
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principally; chiefly; mainly
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at first; originally
Etymology
Origin of primarily
Explanation
Primarily means "for the most part." If in the summer, you primarily work at a restaurant, this is the thing you do most, though you also might hang out with friends, exercise, and read books. You can use the adverb primarily any time you'd use the word "mainly" — today, many people rely primarily on the Internet to get their news. This doesn't mean they never read newspapers or watch television news, but most of the time, they learn about current events online. The Latin root of primarily is primus, which means first — most important, most likely, or what you choose before anything else.
Vocabulary lists containing primarily
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 3
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 2
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The ACT: The Language of the Test, List 2
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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.
Without a studio machine making decisions based primarily on commercial expectations, filmmakers have more room to tell a story on their own terms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Varonis specializes in securing sensitive corporate data and managing access controls, while Proofpoint primarily focuses on email protection and user-level threat defense.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Until now, however, the assumption was supported primarily by evidence from our own Solar System.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
The Bank of France is making policy decisions one meeting at a time, focusing primarily on incoming data, the central bank’s governor said Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
In fact, it had a fairly developed brain, but that brain was tuned primarily to the reception of orders via positronic field, and its reaction to independent stimuli was rather fumbling.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
