completely
Americanadverb
-
to the whole amount or extent; fully.
Although the river never dries up completely, there are times when the water is barely a trickle.
-
thoroughly; totally.
I was so completely disoriented by the chiming of Big Ben as I stood below it that I walked into someone with my ice cream.
Great storytelling and successful social media campaigns are completely interconnected.
Other Word Forms
- quasi-completely adverb
- subcompletely adverb
- uncompletely adverb
Etymology
Origin of completely
Explanation
Use completely to describe something that is totally and utterly...something. A completely ridiculous idea is absolutely crazy and stupid. Completely is an adverb that comes from the Latin completus, "to fill up." We use it to mean "entirely" or "wholly." So if a building is completely destroyed, no part of it is left standing. Reading a newspaper story or watching a documentary film completely means you finished it from beginning to end. And doing so can completely change your view on an issue.
Vocabulary lists containing completely
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ly
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Novel Study: The Hobbit, Chapters 6–9
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is completely understandable to raise concerns about a tattoo associated with the Nazi secret police; nobody should be regarded as a pedant for doing so.
From Slate • Apr. 13, 2026
Now, it appears as though the Hollywood A-lister is going to take a break from the selling space altogether, taking the home off the market completely, Realtor.com can exclusively reveal.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026
“This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable,” a Spears representative told The Times following the arrest.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
"Rivers that are normally completely frozen have overflowed where they hadn't historically," he told the BBC, causing layered, unstable ice sheets that are hazardous to travel over in winter months.
From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026
She wandered down into it now, ignoring me completely.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
