merely

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)

(focus) Without any other reason etc.; only, just, and nothing more. [from 16th c.]
Synonyms: but, simply; see also Thesaurus:merely
- 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.
- 1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 20:
  All these people, who have tried to set you against me out of envy and love of slander – and some too merely passing on what they have been told by others – all these are very difficult to deal with.
(obsolete) Wholly, entirely. [16th–20th c.]
Synonyms: exclusively, purely; see also Thesaurus:solely
- 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.

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), mere (es) (disused)
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