Whole
adj, adv, noun, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 Something complete, without any parts missing.
"This variety of fascinating details didn't fall together into an enjoyable, coherent whole."
- 2 an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity wordnet
- 3 An entirety.
- 4 all of something including all its component elements or parts wordnet
- 1 Entire, undivided.
"I ate a whole fish."
- 2 Entire, undivided.; Used as an intensifier.
"I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party. She ate a whole bunch of french fries."
- 3 Sound, uninjured, healthy.
"He is of whole mind, but the same cannot be said about his physical state."
- 4 From which none of its constituents has been removed.
"whole wheat; whole milk"
- 5 As yet unworked.
- 1 including all components without exception; being one unit or constituting the full amount or extent or duration; complete wordnet
- 2 (of siblings) having the same parents wordnet
- 3 acting together as a single undiversified whole wordnet
- 4 exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health wordnet
- 5 not injured or harmed wordnet
- 1 In entirety; entirely; wholly. colloquial
"I ate a fish whole!"
- 1 to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent; Completely or entirely wordnet
Example
More examples"It almost scared me not to see you online for a whole day."
Etymology
From Middle English 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”). The spelling with wh-, introduced in the 15th century, represents a pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ that failed to survive in the standard language (compare one, whore). Cognates Compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil; also Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy.