Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb Above all; especially.
  • adverb Almost entirely; mainly.
  • adjective Of or relating to a chief.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Principally; above all; in the first place; eminently.
  • For the most part; mostly: as, his estates were chiefly situated in Scotland.
  • Synonyms Mainly, especially, eminently, primarily.
  • Of or pertaining to a chief; proper to a chief.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In the first place; principally; preëminently; above; especially.
  • adverb For the most part; mostly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb focus especially or primarily; above all
  • adverb focus mainly or principally; almost entirely
  • adjective of, or relating to a chief

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb for the most part

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

chief +‎ -ly

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Examples

Comments

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  • Thanks, E.B. White.

    December 12, 2010