Wholly means completely, entirely, or totally. When something is wholly different from something else, the two things share nothing in common. If you're wholly responsible for a mistake, you can't blame anyone else, not even a little bit.

The word adds emphasis, making it clear there are no exceptions or partial cases. A movie might be wholly original, meaning every idea in it is fresh and new. A student who is wholly unprepared for a test didn't study at all, not even for five minutes. When you're wholly focused on reading a great book, you're so absorbed that you don't hear people calling your name.

Writers often choose wholly over simpler words like “completely” when they want to sound more formal or emphatic. You might say “I wholly agree” instead of “I completely agree” to show how strongly you support an idea.

Be careful not to confuse wholly with holy (sacred or religious) or holey (full of holes). They sound the same but mean entirely different things.