whole

English Online Dictionary. What means whole‎? What does whole mean?

English

Alternative forms

• hole (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English 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, was for disambiguation with hole, and was absent in Scots.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /həʊl/, [həʊɫ], [hɒʊɫ]
• (US) IPA^(key): /hoʊl/, [hoʊɫ]
• Homophone: hole
• Rhymes: -əʊl

Adjective

whole (comparative wholer or more whole, superlative wholest or most whole)

1. Entire, undivided.

   Synonyms: total; see also Thesaurus:entire

   1. Used as an intensifier.

      I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party.   She ate a whole bunch of french fries.
2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.

   Synonyms: hale, well; see also Thesaurus:healthy
3. (of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.

4. (mining) As yet unworked.

Translations

Adverb

whole (comparative more whole, superlative most whole)

1. (colloquial) In entirety; entirely; wholly.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely

Derived terms

• a whole nother, a whole 'nother

Translations

Noun

whole (plural wholes)

1. Something complete, without any parts missing.

   Synonyms: entireness, totality; see also Thesaurus:entirety

   Meronym: part

2. An entirety.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “whole”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Further reading

• All and whole — Linguapress online English grammar

Anagrams

• Howle, howel