Merely

How to spell merely

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce merely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does merely mean?

1. adverbOnly; simply; nothing more than what is stated.

Merely in a sentence

• The repair cost merely ten pounds, far less than she expected.

• He was merely following the instructions printed on the box.

Where does merely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the adjective 'mere', which English took from the Latin merus, meaning 'pure', 'unmixed' or 'undiluted', a term used especially of wine that had no water added to it. The sense travelled from 'pure' to 'nothing but', so a 'mere' thing was something taken in its plain, unqualified state and nothing more. By the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 'mere' was being used in English to mean 'only' or 'no more than', and the adverb 'merely' followed naturally with the same restricting force of 'simply' or 'only'. The spelling keeps the full 'mere' intact before the ending, which is the main thing to remember: it is mere plus ly, with no dropped 'e' as happens in words like 'truly'. The same Latin merus survives in the legal and rhetorical phrase 'a mere formality', preserving that original sense of something stripped down to its bare nature.

How the word is built

• mere (from Latin merus: pure, unmixed)
• -ly (adverb suffix)