the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adverb.
Purely; unmixedly; absolutely.
adverb.
Not otherwise than; simply; barely; only.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adverb.
and nothing more
Word Usage
"The husband and father fell dead in the street before our eyes, -- and those who picked him up said he was drunk, but it turned out that he was merely starved, -- _merely_!"