Whole

/həʊl/ · adjective

Meaning

Entire, undivided..

Definitions by Sense

1. Entire, undivided.
2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.
3. (of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.
4. (mining) As yet unworked.
5. (colloquial) In entirety; entirely; wholly.
6. Something complete, without any parts missing.
7. An entirety.

Example Sentences

I ate a whole fish.

During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]

Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.

A traveller in 1887 describes the difference between the peoples found when crossing the frontier in the Ichow prefecture. In Kiangsu he had been met by rudeness and obstruction, on his entering Shantung, at the very first village he was received with courtesy and even kindness, and he found the same feelings expressed through the whole province.

“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”

Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages.

He is of whole mind, but the same cannot be said about his physical state.

Here, with one balm for many fevers found, / Whole of an ancient evil, I sleep sound.

Synonyms for whole

Antonyms for whole

Related Words

Word Forms

• wholer
• more whole
• wholest
• most whole
• hole
• wholes

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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