adv ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adverb

1. 1
   Completely and entirely; to the fullest extent; (loosely, exaggeratedly) very; to a great extent. not-comparable

   "Wholly, in my opinion, this is wrong."

2. 2
   Exclusively and solely. not-comparable

   "A creature wholly given to brawls and wine."

Adverb

1. 1
   to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent; Completely or entirely wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

altogethercompletelytotallycompletelyabsolutelyacross the board

Antonyms

All antonyms

partlyin a way

Example

More examples

"It's a wholly new experience for me."

Etymology

From Middle English holly, holeliche, holliche (also as halely, hallich, etc.), equivalent to whole + -ly. Doublet of holy.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.