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Wholly vs Altogether - What's the difference?

wholly | altogether |

Altogether is a synonym of wholly.



As adverbs the difference between wholly and altogether

is that wholly is completely and entirely; to the fullest extent while altogether is without exception; wholly; completely.

wholly

English

Alternative forms

* wholy (obsolete)

Adverb

(-)
  • Completely and entirely; to the fullest extent.
  • *
  • *: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.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 19, author=Kerry Brown, work=The Guardian
  • , title= Kim Jong-il obituary , passage=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.}}
  • Exclusively and solely.
  • Synonyms

    * completely * totally * See also

    Antonyms

    * (completely) partly

    altogether

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Without exception; wholly; completely.
  • * 1891 , , The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,"
  • Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • On the whole; with everything considered.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson
  • , title=tEngland Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report, work=Telegraph citation , passage=A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward. }}

    Synonyms

    * wholly * completely * (on the whole) all in all

    Derived terms

    * in the altogether