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Wholly vs Wholely - What's the difference?

wholly | wholely |

As adverbs the difference between wholely and wholly

is that wholely is an alternative spelling of lang=en while wholly is completely and entirely; to the fullest extent.

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

    wholely

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • * 1810 , John Dougall, The Modern Preceptor
  • If this circle fall wholely without the ellipse, the point H will be the vertex of the greater axis...
  • * 1983 , James Bradley, Introduction to Data Base Management in Business
  • A wholely owned subsidiary is one whose common voting shares are wholely owned...

    Usage notes

    This spelling is somewhat less common than wholly .