merely

adverb

mere·​ly ˈmir-lē 

: nothing more than : only

was merely trying to help

… no boy wanted to be on record as considering a girl a major fox only to discover that she considered him merely cool.

—Richard Russo

Not merely decorative, the crisscrossing slats and fins variously filter light and provide privacy.

—Rob Haskell

Many merely desire a pleasant afternoon perusing the exhibitions in their local gallery.

—Launt Thompson

Many of the deep-sea fishes, for example, have pathetically weak skeletons and terribly flabby bodies—in extreme cases they are the consistency of gelatin and seem to be composed merely of mouth and stomach.

—Tim Flannery

… because of technology what in the past would have taken days took merely hours.

—Lee Child

Synonyms

• but
• just
• only
• purely
• simply

Examples of merely in a Sentence

the outside noise was merely a raccoon knocking over the garbage can

Recent Examples on the Web

In Ross’s hands, the device becomes something overwhelmingly expressive: the images, rather than merely recording Elwood’s emotions, register the cause of those emotions and allow the viewer to partake in his inner world. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2024

As Lavery mentions in her aforementioned 2020 essay, the metaphor also makes reference to the idea that the trans person, before realizing their identity, is merely a shell. —Evelyn Bauer, Them, 5 Dec. 2024

The private key stays on the user's device, and the service merely verifies cryptographically. —Mark Vena, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

In the spirit of games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Spyro the Dragon, this one has a pure sense of fun, and the story exists merely to give a sense of structure to the play. —Richard Newby, TIME, 5 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1580, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing merely

• not just/only/merely
• not merely