• Wholly

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈhəʊ̯.li/, /ˈhɒʊ̯.li/, /ˈhɒʊ̯ɫ.li/
    • US IPA: /ˈhoʊ̯.li/, /ˈhɒʊ̯ɫ.i/
    • Homophones: holey, holy
    • Rhymes: -əʊli, -əʊlli

    Alternative forms

    Origin

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

    Full definition of wholly

    Adverb

    wholly

    1. completely and entirely; to the fullest extent
      • 2011, December 19, Kerry Brown, Kim Jong-il obituary, 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.
    2. exclusively and solely

    Antonyms

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