principally

English

Etymology

From Middle English principaly; equivalent to principal +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

principally (not comparable)

1. In a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.
   • 1828, Elizabeth Elkins Sanders, Conversations Principally on the Aborigines of North America, Salem: W. and S. B. Ives, page 65:

     The game principally consists in taking and carrying off the ball from the opposite party, after being hurled into the air midway between two high pillars, which are the goasl, and the party who bears off the ball to their pillar, wins the game […]

   • 1916 May, M[aria] A[ntonina] Czaplicka, “A Year in Arctic Sibera”, in The Wide World Magazine, volume 37, number 217, page 54:

     Timber, hides, furs, and minerals from the north, and grain and other products from the south and the immediate vicinity of the town itself are brought, principally by river, to this point, where the railway cuts the great central waterway of Siberia.

   • 2013 November 29, Nick Collins, “Even Champagne experts blind to grape varieties”, in The Telegraph‎^[1]:

     When asked to guess whether champagnes they were drinking was made principally from white or black grapes, most tasters including wine writers and journalists were unable to tell the difference.

   • 2019 March 13, “Nature Talk looks at avian pollinators”, in New Zealand Herald‎^[2], archived from the original on 14 March 2019:

     Pollination by animals, principally insects and birds, is widespread among plants.

Synonyms

• chiefly, mainly, mostly; see also Thesaurus:mostly or Thesaurus:usually