merely

English

Etymology

From Middle English mereli, equivalent to mere +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪəli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪɹli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)li

Adverb

merely (not comparable)

1. (focus) Without any other reason etc.; only, just, and nothing more. [from 16th c.]
   • 1951 October, Bruce Hayden, “Of Cabbageheads and Kings”, in Chess Review:

     But let us not be unfair to the kibitzers. Not all players hate 'em. Some merely dislike 'em.

2. (obsolete) Wholly, entirely. [16th–20th c.]
   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica:

     It is not forgot, since the acute and distinct Arminius was perverted meerly by the perusing of a namelesse discourse writt'n at Delf, which at first he took in hand to confute.

   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Slavery in Massachusetts:

     I am sorry to say, that I doubt if there is a judge in Massachusetts who is prepared to resign his office, and get his living innocently, whenever it is required of him to pass sentence under a law which is merely contrary to the law of God.

Synonyms

• (wholly):
• (without any other reason): See also Thesaurus:merely

Translations

only, just, and nothing more

• Arabic: بِالْكَاد (bi-l-kād)
• Belarusian: то́лькі (tólʹki), про́ста (prósta)
• Catalan: merament (ca), simplement (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 只是 (zh) (zhǐshì), 只不過 / 只不过 (zh) (zhǐbuguò), 僅僅 / 仅仅 (zh) (jǐnjǐn)

• Czech: pouze (cs)
• Dutch: alleen (nl), louter (nl)
• Esperanto: nur (eo)
• Finnish: vain (fi), ainoastaan (fi), pelkästään (fi)
• French: simplement (fr), uniquement (fr), seulement (fr)
• German: bloß (de), lediglich (de), nur (de), schier (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μόνον (mónon)

• Hebrew: רק (he) (rak)
• Hungarian: csak (hu), csupán (hu), pusztán (hu), mindössze (hu), egyedül (hu)
• Ingrian: vaa, ikkee
• Italian: soltanto (it), solamente (it), meramente (it), semplicemente (it)
• Japanese: 単に (ja) (たんに, tanni), ばかり (ja) (bakari), ただ (ja) (tada)
• Kazakh: ғана (ğana)
• Khmer: គ្រាន់តែ (km) (kroan tae)
• Korean: 한낱 (ko) (hannat), 그저 (ko) (geujeo), 단지 (ko) (danji)
• Latin: sōlum (la), modo (la)
• Malagasy: fotsiny (mg)
• Navajo: tʼóó
• Nyunga: arda
• Ojibwe: eta
• Plautdietsch: blooss
• Polish: tylko (pl), jedynie (pl), jeno (pl) (outdated), ino (pl) (dialectal)
• Portuguese: meramente (pt), somente (pt)
• Romanian: doar (ro), abia (ro)
• Russian: то́лько (ru) (tólʹko), про́сто (ru) (prósto), лишь (ru) (lišʹ), всего́-на́всего (ru) (vsevó-návsevo)
• Serbo-Croatian: prosto (sh), jedino (sh)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: jano

• Spanish: meramente (es), puramente (es), solamente (es), sólo (es)
• Swedish: bara (sv)
• Turkish: sadece (tr), yalnızca (tr)
• Ukrainian: лише́ (lyšé), ті́льки (uk) (tílʹky), про́сто (prósto)
• Vietnamese: chỉ (vi), đơn thuần (vi)
• Walloon: djusse (wa), fok (wa), seulmint (wa)
• ǃXóõ: ǁʻáa

Anagrams

• Lemery, Remley

Middle English

Adverb

merely

1. Alternative form of merily