wholly

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adverb whol·ly \ ˈhō(l)-lē \

Definition of wholly

1 :to the full or entire extent :completely

a wholly owned subsidiary

2 :to the exclusion of other things :solely

a book dealing wholly with herbs

See wholly defined for English-language learners

See wholly defined for kids

Examples of wholly in a Sentence

She is wholly devoted to her children.
An infant is wholly dependent on its mother.
The claim is wholly without merit.

Recent Examples of wholly from the Web

Mr. Dmitriev’s fund was created as part of VEB, a bank wholly owned by the Russian state that has figured in the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the election.

— jessica silver-greenberg, ben protess and michael corkery, New York Times, "The Benefits of Standing by the President," 19 Aug. 2017
It was wholly owned by the Elvis Presley Trust and his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, until 2005.

— kristin m. hall, The Seattle Times, "$28.75 charge to visit Elvis’ grave during vigil upsets fans," 15 Aug. 2017
Like many kitchen endeavors, making ice cream is wholly unnecessary and supremely satisfying.

— Popular Mechanics, "How to Make Ice Cream," 4 Aug. 2017
The increase was wholly attributable to institutional investors, as hedge funds and private clients were net sellers of the space.

— luke kawa, Bloomberg.com, "The Smart Money Is Starting to Pour Into Energy Stocks," 1 Aug. 2017
But on Tuesday, McCain proved that Keenan’s hypothetical was wholly realistic.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "John McCain Gives Heroic Speech Denouncing Terrible Thing That He Just Voted For," 25 July 2017
But so, too, have schools elsewhere, even as the population has become more diverse: nationally, the proportion of schools composed almost wholly of minority pupils more than tripled between 1988, the high point of integration, and 2013.

— The Economist, "Separate and unequalAn ingenious bid to force improvements in Mississippi schools," 13 July 2017
Even if officers were receiving wholly adequate training, that wouldn't address the problem of who police are accepting as new recruits.

— lincoln anthony blades, Teen Vogue, "Don't Teach Kids How to Survive Police Encounters, Train Cops to Deescalate," 12 July 2017
To Kill a Mockingbird is simple enough on the surface, but no one in the story is completely good and no one wholly evil.

— sid evans, Southern Living, "Looking for Harper Lee," 11 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wholly.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of wholly

Middle English hoolly, from hool whole

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First Known Use: 14th century

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wholly Synonyms

Synonyms

all, all of, all over, altogether, clean, completely, dead, enough, entire, entirely, even, exactly, fast, flat, full, heartily, out, perfectly, plumb [chiefly dialect], quite, soundly, thoroughly, through and through, totally, utterly, well, fully, wide

Antonyms

half, halfway, incompletely, part, partially, partly

Near Antonyms

barely, hardly, just, kind of, marginally, minimally, scarcely, slightly, superficially; approximately, roughly, somewhat

WHOLLY Defined for English Language Learners

wholly

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adverb

Definition of wholly for English Language Learners

: completely or fully

WHOLLY Defined for Kids

wholly

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adverb whol·ly \ ˈhō-lē \

Definition of wholly for Students

:to the limit :completely

a wholly honest person

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wholly Synonyms

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WHOLLY Defined for English Language Learners

wholly

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