Link Centre Dictionary

whole

UK/həʊl/ US/hɜʊ̯ɫ/ very common
adjective (3) noun (2) adverb (1)

adjective

1.

including all components without exception; being one unit or constituting the full amount or extent or duration; complete

  • “gave his whole attention”
  • “a whole wardrobe for the tropics”
  • “the whole hog”
  • “a whole week”
  • “the baby cried the whole trip home”
  • “a whole loaf of bread”
Antonyms
Similar
2.

(of siblings) having the same parents

  • “whole brothers and sisters”
Antonyms
3.

exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health

  • “hale and hearty”
  • “whole in mind and body”
  • “a whole person again”
Synonyms
Similar

noun

1.

all of something including all its component elements or parts

  • “Europe considered as a whole”
  • “the whole of American literature”
2.

an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity

  • “how big is that part compared to the whole?”
  • “the team is a unit”
Synonyms

adverb

1.

to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly')

  • “he was wholly convinced”
  • “entirely satisfied with the meal”
  • “it was completely different from what we expected”
  • “was completely at fault”
  • “a totally new situation”
  • “the directions were all wrong”
  • “it was not altogether her fault”
  • “an altogether new approach”
  • “a whole new idea”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”).

Phrases

  • 20 whole dollars
  • a whole 'nother
  • a whole nother
  • an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
  • as a whole
  • committee of the whole
  • double whole
  • double whole note

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Pertaining to

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.