wholly
adverb
\
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
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Synonyms & Antonyms for wholly
Synonyms
all, all of, all over, altogether, clean, completely, dead, enough, entire, entirely, even, exactly, fast, flat, full, fully, heartily, out, perfectly, plumb [chiefly dialect], quite, soundly, thoroughly, through and through, totally, utterly, well, wide
Antonyms
half, halfway, incompletely, part, partially, partly
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Examples of wholly in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
His father was raised Quaker, and his mother was Jewish—but neither were at all religious, and Sam had a wholly secular upbringing. — Rob Reid, Ars Technica, "Ars on your lunch break: Getting high and breaking faith," 17 Oct. 2018 The production has an appealing natural finish to it, enhanced by scenes that play largely or wholly in French or Arabic. — Robert Lloyd, latimes.com, "A ‘Deep State’ where even the moles have moles," 15 June 2018 What makes this version, screening daily June 13 to 19 and overseen by celluloid enthusiast Christopher Nolan, unique is its wholly authentic presentation. — Jordan Cronk, The Hollywood Reporter, "Critic's Picks: A June To-Do List for Film Buffs in L.A.," 1 June 2018 Favreau's production is wholly separate from Lucas's, which would have been set in the seedy underbelly of Coruscant between the original and prequel trilogies. — Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, "Everything We Know So Far About Star Wars "The Mandalorian"," 5 Oct. 2018 In 2014-15, the program shifted to a wholly online system, saving the agency more than $100,000 in printing and postal costs and making the system much more efficient. — Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle, "Lottery-like public program offers expanded Texas hunting opportunities," 30 June 2018 The university promptly reviewed these complaints, concluding that the instructor had handled the lab incident in a wholly appropriate manner, and that her personal social media post of an old photo was not harassment under Purdue policy. — Montana Couser, The Root, "Purdue Professor Proudly Posts Photo in Blackface But Faces No Consequences Because of Free ‘Speech’," 30 June 2018 The federal government is bloated, and cuts and consolidation are wholly appropriate for Education and Labor. — Danielle Douglas-gabriel, Washington Post, "Merging the Labor and Education departments won’t accomplish much, say experts," 21 June 2018 And few believe that even the best field operation could wholly neutralize the surge of Democratic enthusiasm on display in recent special elections, which has some Republican strategists fearing that the House majority may be lost already. — Steve Peoples, chicagotribune.com, "GOP devotes $250 million to midterm strategy: Keep House majority," 14 Apr. 2018These 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.
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More Definitions for wholly
wholly
adverb
English Language Learners Definition of wholly
: completely or fully
See the full definition for wholly in the English Language Learners Dictionary
wholly
adverb
\
Kids Definition of wholly
: to the limit : completely a wholly honest person
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