How do you use the word "wholly" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "wholly": I wholly agree that the school needs a better library.

Wholly Meaning

/ˈhəʊ.li/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

advEntirely; fully; completely.

advCompletely and entirely; to the fullest extent.

Sentence Examples

I wholly agree that the school needs a better library.

The company is wholly owned by the local government.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

whole altogether

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

I am ____ committed to finishing this project on time despite the challenges.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

I ____ agree with your assessment of the situation.

Word Origin & History

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

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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:

"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:

"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:

"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:

"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:

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