adjective
- comprising the full quantity, amount, extent, number, etc., without diminution or exception; entire, full, or total: He ate the whole pie. They ran the whole distance.
- containing all the elements properly belonging; complete: We have a whole set of antique china.
- undivided; in one piece: to swallow a thing whole.
- Mathematics. integral, or not fractional.
- not broken, damaged, or impaired; intact: Thankfully, the vase arrived whole.
- uninjured or unharmed; sound: He was surprised to find himself whole after the crash.
- pertaining to all aspects of human nature, especially one’s physical, intellectual, and spiritual development: education for the whole person.
noun
- the whole assemblage of parts or elements belonging to a thing; the entire quantity, account, extent, or number: He accepted some of the parts but rejected the whole.
- a thing complete in itself, or comprising all its parts or elements.
- an assemblage of parts associated or viewed together as one thing; a unitary system.
Idioms
- as a whole, all things included or considered; altogether: As a whole, the relocation seems to have been beneficial.
- on/upon the whole,
- in view of all the circumstances; after consideration.
- disregarding exceptions; in general: On the whole, the neighborhood is improving.
- out of whole cloth, without foundation in fact; fictitious: a story made out of whole cloth.
adjective
- containing all the component parts necessary to form a total; completea whole apple
- constituting the full quantity, extent, etc
- uninjured or undamaged
- healthy
- having no fractional or decimal part; integrala whole number
- of, relating to, or designating a relationship established by descent from the same parents; fullwhole brothers
- out of whole cloth US and Canadian informal entirely without a factual basis
adverb
- in an undivided or unbroken pieceto swallow a plum whole
noun
- all the parts, elements, etc, of a thing
- an assemblage of parts viewed together as a unit
- a thing complete in itself
- as a whole considered altogether; completely
- on the whole
- taking all things into consideration
- in general
n.“entire body or company; the full amount,” late 14c., from whole (adj.). adj.Old English hal “entire, unhurt, healthy,” from Proto-Germanic *khailaz “undamaged” (cf. Old Saxon hel, Old Norse heill, Old Frisian hal, Middle Dutch hiel, Dutch heel, Old High German, German heil “salvation, welfare”), from PIE *koilas (cf. Old Church Slavonic celu “whole, complete;” see health). The spelling with wh- developed early 15c. The sense in whole number is from early 14c. For phrase whole hog, see hog. adj.
- Not wounded, injured, or impaired; sound or unhurt.
- Having been restored; healed.
n.
- An entity or system made up of interrelated parts.
Considering everything, as in On the whole we enjoyed our vacation, although the hotel was not perfect by any means. [Late 1600s] Also see the synonyms by and large; for the most part. In addition to the idioms beginning with whole
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