principally

P3R1I1N1C3I1P3A1L1L1Y4

adverb

In a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.

Less commonScrabble 20

Meanings

adverbprincipally (not comparable)
  1. not comparableIn a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.

    Pollination by animals, principally insects and birds, is widespread among plants.

    2019 March 13, “Nature Talk looks at avian pollinators”, in New Zealand Herald, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2019
    3 more examples

    The game principally consists in taking and carrying off the ball from the opposite party, after being hurled into the air midway between two high pillars, which are the goasl, and the party who bears off the ball to their pillar, wins the game[…]

    1828, Elizabeth Elkins Sanders, Conversations Principally on the Aborigines of North America, Salem: W. and S. B. Ives, page 65

    Timber, hides, furs, and minerals from the north, and grain and other products from the south and the immediate vicinity of the town itself are brought, principally by river, to this point, where the railway cuts the great central waterway of Siberia.

    1916 May 28, M[aria] A[ntonina] Czaplicka, “A Year in Arctic Sibera”, in The Wide World Magazine, volume 37, number 217, page 54

    When asked to guess whether champagnes they were drinking was made principally from white or black grapes, most tasters including wine writers and journalists were unable to tell the difference.

    2013 November 29, Nick Collins, “Even Champagne experts blind to grape varieties”, in The Telegraph

    Synonyms: chiefly, mainly, mostly, usually

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbIn a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.

More synonyms by meaning

adverbfor the most part

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishprincipaly
  2. Englishprincipally

From Middle English principaly. By surface analysis, principal + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish principalmente
  • principalmenteTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

principally. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/principally

MLA

“principally.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/principally. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “principally,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/principally.

Source: principally on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.