Wholesome

//ˈhoʊl.səm// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Promoting good physical health and well-being.

    "I prethee go, and get me ſome repaſt, I care not what, ſo it be holſome foode."

  2. 2
    Promoting moral and mental well-being.

    "Though hard, my friends, yet wholesome are the truths, taught in affliction's school, whence the pure soul rises refined, and soars above the world."

  3. 3
    Favorable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous.

    "A wholeſome tongue is a tree of life: but peruerſneſſe therein is a breach in the ſpirit."

  4. 4
    Marked by wholeness; sound and healthy.
  5. 5
    Decent; innocuous; sweet.

    "Sometimes white Lyllies did their Leaves afford, With wholſom Polly-flow'rs, to mend his homely Board: […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    sound or exhibiting soundness in body or mind wordnet
  2. 2
    conducive to or characteristic of physical or moral well-being wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
healthysalubriousadmissiblealimentaryallall in all

Example

More examples

"Some lectures are not wholesome for children."

Etymology

From earlier holesome, from Middle English holsom, holsum, helsum, halsum, from Old English *hālsum, *hǣlsum, from Proto-West Germanic *hailasam, from Proto-Germanic *hailasamaz, equivalent to whole + -some or hale (“healthy”) + -some. Cognate with Saterland Frisian heelsoam, Dutch heilzaam, German Low German heelsaam, German heilsam, Icelandic heilsamur, Norwegian Nynorsk helsesam, Swedish hälsosam (“wholesome”).

Related phrases

well being

More for "wholesome"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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