1
b
: free of defect or impairment : intact
c
: physically sound and healthy : free of disease or deformity
d
: mentally or emotionally sound
2
: having all its proper parts or components : complete, unmodified
whole milk
a whole egg
3
a
: constituting the total sum or undiminished entirety : entire
owns the whole island
b
: each or all of the
took part in the whole series of athletic events
4
b
: directed to one end : concentrated
your whole attention
5
a
: seemingly complete or total
the whole idea is to help, not hinder
b
: very great in quantity, extent, or scope
feels a whole lot better now
6
: constituting the entirety of a person's nature or development
educate the whole student
7
: having the same father and mother
whole brother
wholeness
noun
1
: a complete amount or sum : a number, aggregate, or totality lacking no part, member, or element
2
: something constituting a complex unity : a coherent system or organization of parts fitting or working together as one
Synonyms
Examples of whole in a Sentence
Adjective
The doctor assured me that the whole procedure would only take a few minutes.
The whole place was remodeled. It looks great now.
It's been a whole week since I've seen him.
I spent the whole summer traveling through Europe.
The whole evening was a great success.
She read the whole book in one day.
I've been waiting my whole life for this.
We decided to forget the whole thing.
We cooked a whole chicken.
The community center offers a whole range of programs.
Noun
the landlord eventually refunded the whole of our deposit
Adverb
We cooked the chicken whole.
The frog swallowed the fly whole.
Recent Examples on the Web
Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 Apr. 2024
But cats in live action is a whole other ball of yarn.
—James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Apr. 2024
Those will let Spotify subscribers tinker with tracks in a whole new way.
—Chris Welch, The Verge, 12 Apr. 2024
The whole matter could have been easily cleared up with a DNA test.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2024
There will be more, and the ideal situation is to certify a whole series of Alpine Eagles, for example, for a particular year.
—Paul Croughton, Robb Report, 12 Apr. 2024
That whole craze started right at the beginning of my career here in New York.
—Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 12 Apr. 2024
The upcoming restoration work will entail restoring and cleaning the whole bridge to eliminate algae, moss, liches and weeds growing there, as well any deposits left by chemicals in the river.
—Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, 12 Apr. 2024
The rule changes did not include guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommending that only whole grain cereals be buyable with WIC funds.
—James Powel, USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024
Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 13 Apr. 2024
The market for storage containers, on the whole, is thriving.
—Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2024
Over the last 10 months, however, gold ETFs have incurred a net outflow of funds, meaning that on the whole the ETFs are losing investment rather than gaining it, Harvey said.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 12 Apr. 2024
Even though many life-saving drugs are vastly unaffordable to people who need them most, drug prices on the whole are only up 0.4% year-over-year.
—Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024
The Israel Defense Forces announced a full withdrawal of ground forces from southern Gaza on Sunday, leaving a smaller force to maintain operations in the whole of the strip.
—Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 7 Apr. 2024
But on the whole, the finale is deeply satisfying, including a nod to the character’s long literary and screen history that should be delightful even to the many viewers who won’t get the reference.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Apr. 2024
Cooking Tips for Eastern Wild Turkeys Roasting a wild turkey whole is an excellent way to prepare your spring harvest.
—M.d. Johnson, Field & Stream, 27 Mar. 2024
Baby boomers and Gen X are wildly underprepared for retirement on the whole, according to many surveys and studies.
—Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
Glenn Greenberg, EW.com, 27 Oct. 2023
In the Heat’s first game while whole after dealing with injury issues for the first three months of the season, Spoelstra went with a nine-man rotation that did not include Josh Richardson in Saturday’s road loss to the New York Knicks.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
Some, like Great Lakes walleye, are trucked whole to Fortune’s Bensenville, Illinois processing facility on slushy-like flake ice, processed and shipped down I-65 to Indianapolis in as little as three days.
—The Indianapolis Star, 5 Jan. 2024
Slice your strawberries if desired (keep scrolling for more on freezing whole vs. sliced).
—Katie Bourque, Good Housekeeping, 6 May 2023
Someone captured a deer eating a snake whole earlier this week.
—Vulture, 15 June 2023
Add two Hungarian wax peppers whole – keeping their stems on.
—Gabriele Regalbuto, Fox News, 6 July 2023
Between bites of banku –a delicious corn and cassava dough formed in single-serving balls – and whole-grilled, freshwater tilapia seasoned with a traditional blend of aromatic herbs and spices, Eshun shares the story of her upbringing in Ohio until her repatriation to Ghana in 2018.
—Tenille Clarke, Essence, 9 Jan. 2023
Today's commitment by Norfolk Southern is an important next step in the company's commitment to make the citizens of Ohio and of East Palestine whole after the recent derailment, a commitment Ohio will continue to monitor closely.
—Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 16 Mar. 2023
Adjective
Blake shot the whole movie in 26 days back in 2022 — 21 of those days in Fort Worth.
—Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 Apr. 2024
But cats in live action is a whole other ball of yarn.
—James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Apr. 2024
Those will let Spotify subscribers tinker with tracks in a whole new way.
—Chris Welch, The Verge, 12 Apr. 2024
The whole matter could have been easily cleared up with a DNA test.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2024
There will be more, and the ideal situation is to certify a whole series of Alpine Eagles, for example, for a particular year.
—Paul Croughton, Robb Report, 12 Apr. 2024
That whole craze started right at the beginning of my career here in New York.
—Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 12 Apr. 2024
The upcoming restoration work will entail restoring and cleaning the whole bridge to eliminate algae, moss, liches and weeds growing there, as well any deposits left by chemicals in the river.
—Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, 12 Apr. 2024
The rule changes did not include guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommending that only whole grain cereals be buyable with WIC funds.
—James Powel, USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024
Noun
Confidence: Medium-High Tomorrow night: Skies should end up partly cloudy on the whole.
—Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 13 Apr. 2024
The market for storage containers, on the whole, is thriving.
—Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2024
Over the last 10 months, however, gold ETFs have incurred a net outflow of funds, meaning that on the whole the ETFs are losing investment rather than gaining it, Harvey said.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 12 Apr. 2024
Even though many life-saving drugs are vastly unaffordable to people who need them most, drug prices on the whole are only up 0.4% year-over-year.
—Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024
The Israel Defense Forces announced a full withdrawal of ground forces from southern Gaza on Sunday, leaving a smaller force to maintain operations in the whole of the strip.
—Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 7 Apr. 2024
But on the whole, the finale is deeply satisfying, including a nod to the character’s long literary and screen history that should be delightful even to the many viewers who won’t get the reference.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Apr. 2024
Cooking Tips for Eastern Wild Turkeys Roasting a wild turkey whole is an excellent way to prepare your spring harvest.
—M.d. Johnson, Field & Stream, 27 Mar. 2024
Baby boomers and Gen X are wildly underprepared for retirement on the whole, according to many surveys and studies.
—Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
Adverb
The cube pops up whole again in Endgame, this time in the past, circa 2012, when the Avengers are pulling their multi-pronged time heist to get all the stones before Thanos can.
—Glenn Greenberg, EW.com, 27 Oct. 2023
In the Heat’s first game while whole after dealing with injury issues for the first three months of the season, Spoelstra went with a nine-man rotation that did not include Josh Richardson in Saturday’s road loss to the New York Knicks.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
Some, like Great Lakes walleye, are trucked whole to Fortune’s Bensenville, Illinois processing facility on slushy-like flake ice, processed and shipped down I-65 to Indianapolis in as little as three days.
—The Indianapolis Star, 5 Jan. 2024
Slice your strawberries if desired (keep scrolling for more on freezing whole vs. sliced).
—Katie Bourque, Good Housekeeping, 6 May 2023
Someone captured a deer eating a snake whole earlier this week.
—Vulture, 15 June 2023
Add two Hungarian wax peppers whole – keeping their stems on.
—Gabriele Regalbuto, Fox News, 6 July 2023
Between bites of banku –a delicious corn and cassava dough formed in single-serving balls – and whole-grilled, freshwater tilapia seasoned with a traditional blend of aromatic herbs and spices, Eshun shares the story of her upbringing in Ohio until her repatriation to Ghana in 2018.
—Tenille Clarke, Essence, 9 Jan. 2023
Today's commitment by Norfolk Southern is an important next step in the company's commitment to make the citizens of Ohio and of East Palestine whole after the recent derailment, a commitment Ohio will continue to monitor closely.
—Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 16 Mar. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whole.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near whole
Cite this Entry
“Whole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whole. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
whole
1 of 2 adjective1
: being in healthy or sound condition : free from sickness or injury : well
your care made me whole again
2
a
: having all its proper parts or elements : complete
whole grain
whole milk
b
: not cut up or in pieces
a whole roast chicken
3
: not divided or scattered
your whole attention
4
: being the total or full amount or extent of something
owns the whole island
5
: each or all of the
the whole 10 days
whole
2 of 2 noun1
: a complete amount or sum
2
: something whole or entire
the whole of an apple
Medical Definition
whole
adjective
: containing all its natural constituents, components, or elements : deprived of nothing by refining, processing, or separation
whole milk
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