in the main

alternative for the main

1. Principally; on the whole; for the most part.

   Mr. Fechter has been in the main more accustomed to speak French than to speak English.

   1869 August, Charles Dickens, “On Mr. Fechter's Acting”, in The Atlantic Monthly

   4 more examples

   […] I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety of doing everything one could by way of providing for a child one had in a manner taken into one's own hands; […]

   1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 8

   A new generation is growing up in our midst, […] and its enthusiasm, even when it is misdirected, is, I believe, in the main sincere.

   1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 252

   Bill Clinton's philandering was regarded as a moral failing or a joke — but not, in the main, as an illness.

   2011 February 28, John Cloud, “Sex Addiction: A Disease or a Convenient Excuse?”, in Time, retrieved 13 Aug 2013

   Now, I hold no candle for the train operators, and I think that in the main they have been far too craven about any government proposals. But in this instance, they have been badly traduced, led up the hill, and then chucked back down it.

   2023 November 15, Christian Wolmar, “Ministers should carry the can for ticket office fiasco”, in RAIL, number 996, page 47

   Synonyms: all in all, mainly, mostly, usually