Word.ws English Dictionary

solely

UK/ˈsəʊl.li//ˈsoʊl.li/

solely adverb: alone; exclusively.

Adverb

solely (not comparable)

  1. Alone; exclusively.
    • The new chef was solely responsible for attending the grill.
    • This week, officials closed all evacuation centers but two on Staten Island. Now they plan to rely solely on hotels, even as they brace for a new wave of people displaced from storm-damaged housing where they are facing winter without heat or hot water.2012 November 20, Nina Bernstein, “Storm Bared a Lack of Options for the Homeless in New York”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2023

solely meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

solely in Hindi

solely
केवल keval

solely in Tamil

மாத்திரம்

solely in Urdu

solely, exclusively
صرف sirf
solely
کیول keval

solely in Bengali

কেবলমাত্র
More languagesFewer languages
solely in Malayalam
തനിച്ച്, ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക്, ഏകനായി
solely in Odia
କେବଳ kebaḷa

Examples of solely in a sentence

  • Formal linguistics ignores the vocabulary of languages and focuses solely on their grammar.
  • The book didn't need to be advertised; it became popular solely by word of mouth.
  • Some salamanders are both gillless and lungless as adults, relying solely on cutaneous respiration to breathe.

All 40 example sentences with solely

Synonyms of solely

All synonyms of solely

Origin of solely

From Middle English soly, sooly, soolly, equivalent to sole + -ly.

Questions about solely

What does solely mean?
Solely means alone; exclusively.
What is solely in Hindi?
Solely in Hindi is केवल (keval). See Solely meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is solely?
Solely is an adverb.
How do you pronounce solely?
Solely is pronounced /ˈsəʊl.li/ (UK).

Words near solely in the dictionary

  1. soleiform
  2. soleil
  3. Soleimani
  4. Soleimanis
  5. soleless
  6. solely
  7. Solem
  8. solemn
  9. solemn mass
  10. solemn masses
  11. solemn vow

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: solely (page history and authors); केवल (Hindi) (page history and authors); solely (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); صرف (Urdu) (page history and authors); solely (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); solely (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); କେବଳ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-solely.wav.

Cite this entry: “solely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/solely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.