Wholesale

//ˈhoʊlseɪl// adj, adv, noun, verb

adj, adv, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The sale of products, often in large quantities, to retailers or other merchants. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the selling of goods to merchants; usually in large quantities for resale to consumers wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To sell at wholesale.
  2. 2
    sell in large quantities wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to sale in large quantities, for resale.
  2. 2
    Extensive, indiscriminate, all-encompassing; blanket. figuratively

    "The bombing resulted in wholesale destruction."

Adjective
  1. 1
    ignoring distinctions wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    In bulk or large quantity.
  2. 2
    Indiscriminately. figuratively

    "It still feels unnerving to some, even those caught in the crossfire, to see injuries invented wholesale and lies accepted by the highest court in the land."

Adverb
  1. 1
    on a large scale without careful discrimination wordnet
  2. 2
    at a wholesale price wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
indiscriminateabjectaboundingabsoluteabundantaffluent

Example

More examples

"Wholesale prices had been basically flat."

Etymology

From whole + sale.

Related phrases

all encompassing

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.