in the main

• for the main

in the main

1. Principally; on the whole; for the most part.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 8:

     […] I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety of doing everything one could by way of providing for a child one had in a manner taken into one's own hands; […]

   • 1869 August, Charles Dickens, “On Mr. Fechter's Acting”, in The Atlantic Monthly:

     Mr. Fechter has been in the main more accustomed to speak French than to speak English.

   • 1914 June, James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:

     "A new generation is growing up in our midst . . . and its enthusiasm, even when it is misdirected, is, I believe, in the main sincere."

   • 2011 February 28, John Cloud, “Sex Addiction: A Disease or a Convenient Excuse?”, in Time, retrieved 13 August 2013:

     Bill Clinton's philandering was regarded as a moral failing or a joke — but not, in the main, as an illness.

• all in all, mainly, mostly, usually; see also Thesaurus:mostly

• in the main at OneLook Dictionary Search