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
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.
“Renewables require a completely different kind of grid,” says Luca Moro, chief investment officer at energy-focused fund SpesX, “a capillary system instead of one-way transmission from a power plant.”
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
This is completely unacceptable — especially as Ron Baron feels no compunction about going on TV and talking up SpaceX in the most pie-in-the-sky manner possible.
From MarketWatch • May 27, 2026
“She really needs to think through things. That’s completely reasonable and responsible.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026
No young person I know likes AI completely.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
“But the flip side of not ‘looking right’ means you can walk away from it completely and never ask yourself if that’s actually out of respect, or just out of fear.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
