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
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
It’s been a long, brutal, wildly partisan, and wholly unlikely slog to get here, but Shari Redstone finally gets to preserve her family fortune by selling her patrimony, the media empire laboriously assembled by father Sumner, for about $8.5 billion and goodness knows how much cortisol and angst.
—
David Bloom, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
An invitation to fight forward against erasure, to integrate my culture and my country together, wholly.
—Natalie Guerrero
july 28, Literary Hub, 28 July 2025
Again, nothing’s been finalized and the financial details remain wholly in the arena of the speculative.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 25 July 2025
Everything else was a scattershot mess with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) taking on the wholly underwhelming villain Whiplash (Mickey Rourke).
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 25 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for wholly
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David Bloom, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
An invitation to fight forward against erasure, to integrate my culture and my country together, wholly.
—Natalie Guerrero
july 28, Literary Hub, 28 July 2025
Again, nothing’s been finalized and the financial details remain wholly in the arena of the speculative.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 25 July 2025
Everything else was a scattershot mess with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) taking on the wholly underwhelming villain Whiplash (Mickey Rourke).
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 25 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for wholly
Cite this Entry
“Wholly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wholly. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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
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