chiefly

1. 1.

   for the most part

   “he is mainly interested in butterflies”

   Synonymsprincipallyprimarilymainlyin the main

Questions about chiefly

What does chiefly mean?

chiefly means "for the most part".

How many syllables are in chiefly?

chiefly has 2 syllables: chie-fly. The stress falls on "chie". In IPA it is /ˈtʃifli/.

What is another word for chiefly?

Close synonyms include principally, primarily, mainly, in the main. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is chiefly a common word?

chiefly is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.