merely
- 1Only; just; used to stress that something is no more than what is stated and nothing further.
The repair was merely a temporary fix until the new part arrived.
She wasn't criticizing him; she was merely pointing out a small error.
Similaronly, just, simply, purely, solely
Note
A focusing adverb: it attaches to the word that follows and shrinks it. "Some merely dislike 'em," wrote Bruce Hayden in Chess Review (1951), setting it against hate. Merely picks the weaker of two options and quietly answers a stronger claim. It is built simply from mere plus -ly, and that same root also lies behind the obsolete "wholly" meaning.
- 2Wholly; entirely; completely, without any limitation or reservation.
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.
1644, John Milton, AreopagiticaNote
An obsolete sense that pulls the opposite way from today's word. It marks total extent rather than restriction, and it gave way over time to the limiting "only". That makes it a trap in older prose. When Thoreau, in Slavery in Massachusetts (1854), writes of a law merely contrary to the law of God, he means wholly contrary, not just contrary. Milton's Areopagitica (1644) uses it the same way. Modern writing should avoid it.
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
From Middle English 'mereli', formed from 'mere' plus the suffix '-ly'.