solely
Americanadverb
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as the only one or ones.
solely responsible.
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exclusively or only.
plants found solely in the tropics.
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merely.
She wanted solely to get out of the house for a while.
adverb
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only; completely; entirely
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without another or others; singly; alone
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for one thing only
Etymology
Origin of solely
Explanation
Solely is another word for "only" or "entirely": Your new puppy is solely your responsibility — you have to feed it, walk it, and take care of it all by yourself. Solely comes from the Latin sola, the feminine form of "alone," and if you know other Romance languages, you'll recognize it in, for instance, Italian solo, or Spanish solamente and French seulement. In English, a solo is a song you sing alone.
Vocabulary lists containing solely
"Shooting an Elephant"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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5.4: The Second Industrial Revolution (Sources 1–8)
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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.
“After meeting, he shared he suffered from insomnia and expressed interest in learning meditation, which I taught him. Our meetings, focused solely on practicing meditation, lasted about 30 minutes each,” Chopra said in the statement.
From Salon • May 19, 2026
It exists solely because he was enough of a capitalist to dedicate his life to the world of investing, but not enough to benefit from owning the company he founded.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
But 30-year-old Antigoni tells Newsbeat she's not come to Eurovision solely focused on the win.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
Instead of viewing them solely as stone replicas of ancient bones, researchers are beginning to see some fossils as possible molecular time capsules that still preserve traces of prehistoric biology millions of years later.
From Science Daily • May 14, 2026
The contortionist does not often visit solely for the sake of visiting.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
