- whole⇄adj. 1. making up or being the full quantity, amount, extent, or number; entire.
Ex. to tell the whole story, to give a matter one's whole attention. He worked the whole day. He ate the whole melon. The whole state was hit by the hurricane.
- whole⇄adv. (Informal.) completely; entirely.
Ex. ""It was a whole different world then,"" she says regretfully (New York Times Magazine). - whole⇄expr. as a whole, as one complete thing; altogether.
Ex. The public must be represented when the wage bargains are struck because the nation as a whole is an interested third party (Manchester Guardian Weekly). - whole⇄expr. on (or upon) the whole,
a. considering everything; in sum.
Ex. [I] determined that the Alps were, on the whole, best seen from below (John Ruskin).
b. in general; for the most part.
Ex. But on the whole the people of Coron - whole⇄noun wholeness.
- whole⇄noun 1. all of a thing; the total.
Ex. Four quarters make a whole.
(SYN) entirety, aggregate, sum.
2. something complete in itself; system.
Ex. the complex whole of civilization. - whole⇄whole, adjective, adverb, noun.