Dictionary

wholly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• [ˈhoʊɫ.li] (US)
• [ˈhoʊ.li] (US)
• /ˈhəʊl.li/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /hɔl.i/ (US)
• [ˈhəʊ.lɪ] (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈhoʊ.li/ (US)
• /hɔl.li/ (US)
• /ˈhəʊ.li/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• [ˈhɒʊɫ.lɪ] (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈhoʊl.li/ (US)
• [ˈhɔɫ.i] (US)
• [ˈhɔɫ.li] (US)

Etymology

From Middle English holly, holeliche, holliche (also as halely, hallich, etc.). Doublet of earlier holy. By surface analysis, whol(e) + -ly.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Completely and entirely; to the fullest extent.
   • The explosion rocked the Riteng Computer Accessory Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Pegatron, in Shanghai’s Songjiang district. 2011 December 20, Hayley Tsukayama, “Report: Apple partner Pegatron under scrutiny after blast”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2011, Tech:
   • wholly wrong
   • And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet haue troden, shall be thine inheritance, and thy childrens for euer, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 14:9:
   • The conservative justices appear wholly unbothered by the howls that the court is no more than a partisan institution, turning their destructive attention next to what remains of the Voting Rights Act. 2025 December 19, Ryan Doerfler, Samuel Moyn, “It’s time to accept that the US supreme court is illegitimate and must be replaced”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2025:
   • Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
   • a wholly-owned subsidiary
   • With the descent of the cold war, relations between the two countries (for this is, to all intents and purposes, what they became after the end of the war) were almost completely broken off, with whole families split for the ensuing decades, some for ever. This event and its after-effects, along with the war against the Japanese in the 1940s, was to cast a long shadow over the years ahead, and led to the creation of the wholly unprecedented worship of Kim Il-sung, and his elevation to almost God-like status. It was also to create the system in which his son was to occupy almost as impossibly elevated a position. 2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian:
2. (dialectal, excessive, informal, not-comparable) Completely and entirely; to the fullest extent. ▸ Very; to a great extent.
   • ‘You ain't very strong, are you?’ said a neighbour with sympathetic intent, and ‘You don't have very good health, I expect?’ asked another. Mr Colville said, ‘He do look wholly pale, that's a fact.’ The word ‘wholly’ thus used puzzled me for some time. In Suffolk it is used for ‘very’ or ‘really’, and crops up in almost every sentence. But at first I thought Mr Colville was ascribing to me an air of sanctity. 1930, Adrian Bell, Corduroy, Faber and Faber:
3. (not-comparable) Exclusively and solely.
   • A creature wholly given to brawls and wine.

Forms

Antonyms

partly (antonym(s) of “completely”)

Deriveds

unwholly

Synonyms

entirely (exclusively) · completely (to the fullest extent) · solely · totally