wholly

adverb

whol·​ly ˈhō(l)-lē 

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

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

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 on the Web

Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law has tracked 106 steps taken by the Trump administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate measures. —Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, 1 May 2025

However, this latest episode didn’t really do it for me and just felt overly convoluted to get to a death that was wholly unnecessary. —Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 1 May 2025

Ellie stays calm and tries to paint her cause as being about justice rather than vengeance, but the two are wholly interchangeable in this circumstance, and the council rightly votes her down. —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 27 Apr. 2025

Donovan Mitchell wholly took over Wednesday’s fourth quarter, and he’s now dropped an even 30-piece in back-to-back games. —Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English hoolly, from hool whole

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for wholly

• coaly
• coli
• foley
• folie
• goalie
• holy
• lowly
• moly
• slowly
• tolly
• acholi
• emboli

Kids Definition

wholly

adverb

whol·​ly ˈhōl-(l)ē 

1

: to the full or entire extent : completely

a wholly different view

2

: to the exclusion of other things : solely

a book devoted wholly to sports cars