Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb Completely; entirely.
  • adverb Exclusively; solely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Entirely; completely; perfectly; without reserve.
  • Altogether; exclusively; only.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a whole or complete manner; entirely; completely; perfectly.
  • adverb To the exclusion of other things; totally; fully.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb completely and entirely; to the fullest extent
  • adverb exclusively and solely

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly')

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Middle English word holliche. See also whole and -ly.

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Examples

  • He considered the term wholly wanting in the precision which is desirable in a treaty arrangement, that it was capable of many different degrees of extension, and that the fact of the paramountcy of Great Britain over the new State might be sufficiently established without the use of an ambiguous word which excited the most bitter hostility in the

    Historical and Political Essays William Edward Hartpole Lecky 1870

  • On the other hand, the phrase "wholly devoid of government subsidy" would seem to prohibit the offering of a substantial prize to someone deemed successful at answering DARPA's requirements.

    CNET News.com 2011

  • "Defamation carries a particular legal meaning and application in domestic systems that makes the term wholly unsuitable in the context of religions," says the U.S. government in a response on the issue to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Faultline USA 2009

  • A CHEF earned himself a jail sentence when he faced the Townsville Magistrates Court on disqualified and drink-driving charges. was sentenced to three months 'jail, the term wholly suspended for 12 months.

    Townsville Bulletin Latest News 2009

  • Homophobia a term wholly misapplied and sexism feed on each other but only inversely.

    I finally understand the anti-SSM view! 2004

  • His “Mountain of Light” is a term wholly unknown to the Arabs, except so far as they would assign the term to any saintly place.

    The Land of Midian 2003

  • Arenas, a position on the opposite side of the river San Juan, which was in possession, under a title wholly independent of them, of citizens of the United States interested in the Nicaragua Transit Company, and which was indispensably necessary to the prosperous operation of that route across the Isthmus.

    State of the Union Address (1790-2001) United States. Presidents.

  • If one term wholly includes or excludes another, which wholly or partly includes a third, the first term wholly or partly includes or excludes the third.

    Deductive Logic St. George William Joseph Stock

  • Caro Craven was a bachelor lady of fifty -- spinster was a term wholly inapplicable to the strong-minded little woman who had been an art student in Paris in the days when insular hands were lifted in horror at the mere idea, and was a designation, moreover, deprecated strongly by herself as an insult to one who stood -- at least in her own sphere -- on an equality with the lords of creation.

    The Shadow of the East

  • Arenas, a position on the opposite side of the river San Juan, which was in possession, under a title wholly independent of them, of citizens of the United States interested in the Nicaragua Transit Company, and which was indispensably necessary to the prosperous operation of that route across the Isthmus.

    A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 5, part 3: Franklin Pierce 1878

Comments

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  • The addition of that word "wholly" is where you break from Mitchell(ONLINE DICTIONARY)

    September 27, 2010