wholly
Americanadverb
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entirely; totally; altogether; quite.
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to the whole amount, extent, etc.
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so as to comprise or involve all.
adverb
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completely, totally, or entirely
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without exception; exclusively
Etymology
Origin of wholly
First recorded in 1250–1300, wholly is from the Middle English word holliche. See whole, -ly
Explanation
Wholly is an adverb that means "entirely." If a story is wholly inaccurate, no part of it is true. Do you like to do things the whole way or whole hog, refusing any halfhearted attempts? Then wholly is your kind of word — it means completely, totally, or to the full extent. To give yourself over wholly to the music at a concert means that you are focused exclusively on the experience. If you're wholly committed to a goal, you're going to give it 100% of your time and energy.
Vocabulary lists containing wholly
ACT Vocabulary List
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
As the son of famed English folk singer-songwriters Richard and Linda Thompson, he has a musical pedigree — and gifts that are wholly his own.
From Salon • May 15, 2026
The pure-play stocks—the shares of companies that concentrate their efforts wholly on quantum computing—trade mostly on sentiment, since none of the companies have yet to turn a profit.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
And Thursday night’s performance, while not wholly irrelevant, was just another television rerun broadcast to a less-than-mass audience.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
The idea that this satisfied the requirement for an intervening election “appears to be wholly unprecedented.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
All night long Sarai had sojourned in dreamscapes wholly alien to her.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
