merely

Word family

1 used to emphasize how small or unimportant something or someone is 仅仅，只不过 SYN only

He’s merely a boy – you can’t expect him to understand.

他只是个孩子——你不要指望他能理解。

2 ONLYused to emphasize that nothing more than what you say is involved 只是，仅仅是 SYN just

We’re merely good friends.

我们只是好朋友。

He merely shrugged and walked away.

他只是耸了耸肩就走开了。

3 not merely/rather than merely used before the less important of two ideas in a sentence to emphasize the more important idea 不仅仅

It’s not merely a matter of cost, but whether she’s old enough to go on holiday alone.

不仅仅是费用的问题，而是她这个岁数是否可以独自去度假。

It’s important to write these goals down, rather than merely think about them.

一定要把这些目标写下来，不要光在脑子里想。

Examples from the Corpus

merely• He was merely a boy! I wouldn't have expected him to understand.• I wondered if the girl had meant more to him than being merely a casual friend.• Today people want more from working life than merely a paycheck.• So it is possible that the difference between Mill and Bentham here is merely apparent.• The President's position is merely ceremonial; it is the Chancellor who holds real power.• You don't have to finish first in each race, merely in the leading group.• But both companies' increase in money sales merely matched the six-fold increase in the retail prices index over the 20 years.• If you merely mean some sort of intuitive intelligence, then I hope I am psychic.• Unless managers see the control process through to its conclusion, they are merely monitoring performance rather than exercising control.• As Foreman became angrier and angrier, Paula merely smiled.• The Speaker calls upon the Minister in charge who merely stands up and nods.• Control was merely the essential prerequisite to constructive administration.• You are not there to teach, but merely to supervise the children.• The committee does not blame any individual; we are merely trying to find out how the accident happened.

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus