wholesale

noun

whole·sale | \ ˈhōl-ˌsāl

Definition of wholesale

(Entry 1 of 4)

: the sale of commodities in quantity usually for resale (as by a retail merchant)

wholesale

adjective

Definition of wholesale (Entry 2 of 4)

1 : performed or existing on a large scale especially without discrimination wholesale slaughter

2 : of, relating to, or engaged in the sale of commodities in quantity for resale a wholesale grocer

wholesale

adverb

Definition of wholesale (Entry 3 of 4)

: in a wholesale manner

wholesale

verb

wholesaled; wholesaling

Definition of wholesale (Entry 4 of 4)

transitive verb

: to sell (something) in quantity usually for resale

intransitive verb

: to sell in quantity usually for resale

Examples of wholesale in a Sentence

Adjective

The crops originated from wholesale growers. Is that price retail or wholesale?

Verb

The company wholesales clothing to boutiques in the area.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Even as the administration haltingly pursued treason charges against Lee and the others, the president was proclaiming amnesty wholesale for all but the topmost Confederates. — Fergus M. Bordewich, WSJ, "‘The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee’ Review: The Cost of Conciliation," 12 July 2018 Prices for Parmigiano are cyclical; wheels aged for 12 months currently cost almost €4.40 a pound wholesale in Italy, up from €3.40 in 2015 but lower than the high of the past decade, €4.90 a pound in 2011. — Eric Sylvers, WSJ, "Someone Is Stealing Italy’s Most Precious Cheese," 22 June 2018 Municipalities should be able to build wholesale fibre networks to give their communities more high-speed broadband options; the Trump administration should urge the industry to build a national wholesale 5G wireless network. — The Economist, "AT&T and Time Warner are cleared to merge," 14 June 2018 So the difficulty of transitioning players wholesale. — Jordan Culver, Pro Soccer USA, "New Orlando City coach James O’Connor gets 2.5-year deal, OCB plan in place," 2 July 2018 As Vox’s Dylan Matthews writes, Kennedy’s decision to step down means the court will likely have the votes to chisel away at the protections offered by Roe — or even overturn the decision wholesale. — Li Zhou, Vox, "Two-thirds of Americans oppose rolling back Roe v. Wade," 29 June 2018 Puma’s new performance sneaker, the $120 Clyde Court, is set to be released Oct. 1 through Puma’s wholesale and retail channels. — Sara Germano, WSJ, "Puma Gives Basketball Another Shot," 21 June 2018 Kupchak has said repeatedly since taking the job in April that the intent is not to blow up the roster wholesale. — Rick Bonnell, charlotteobserver, "Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak on Kemba Walker, roster reconstruction," 22 June 2018 While routes may not change wholesale across the city, the way bus service operates needs an overhaul, Walker said. — Jason Laughlin, Philly.com, "Philadelphia's new bus network begins to take shape," 21 June 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

And the firm could choose to open or buy retail pharmacies, or even become a wholesale distributor of drugs. — The Economist, "Amazon takes a big step into online pharma," 5 July 2018 While many players embrace analytics, there remains a significant resistance to wholesale change. — Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY, "MLB players survey: Sounding off on umps, shifts, steroids - and whether to strike back," 28 June 2018 As the planet warms today, will this sort of glacial rebound protect us from a wholesale collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and the catastrophic sea-level rise that would result? — National Geographic, "The West Antarctic Ice Sheet Seems to Be Good at Collapsing," 13 June 2018 For the current year budget, officials stayed away from wholesale cuts in personnel, although some open job positions were eliminated and hours worked by some part-time employees were cut. — Mike Nolan, Daily Southtown, "New taxes, job cuts possible as Orland Park officials tackle budget gap," 8 June 2018 Firms have two choices for survival—replace workers with machines wholesale, or internalize the agility of the market by flattening hierarchies. — David Z. Morris, Fortune, "Why Big Data Could Create Big Problems in the Stock Market," 16 Apr. 2018 The three largest wholesale drug distributors violated federal law by failing to monitor, report and halt suspicious activity in the size and frequency of opioid shipments to pharmacies and hospitals, Daun said. — Don Behm, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Milwaukee County sues prescription drug-makers and distributors behind the opioid crisis," 14 Mar. 2018 The bill, sponsored by Rep. Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, targets wholesale drug distributors and mail-order pharmacies. — Beth Warren, The Courier-Journal, "Nationally renowned pain doctor calls Kentucky's plan to tax opioids 'immoral and cruel'," 5 Mar. 2018 The retail/wholesale event finds more than 50 juried vendors selling lampworked, vintage, glass, globe, gemstones, ceramic and pearls, as well as charms, pendants and supplies to tie it all together. — Courtney Devores, charlotteobserver, "Your 5-minute guide to the best things to do in Charlotte | July 13-19," 11 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Consistently negative offer prices to wholesale power markets from renewable energy create soft market prices that continue to drive out more resilient coal and nuclear generation. — WSJ, "The Renewables Policy Has Made the Grid Less Secure," 19 June 2018 While the vast majority of Ripley farm's revenue comes from wholesaling traditional milk, selling Guernsey A2 milk and cheese is a way to make extra income. — Michael Hill, USA TODAY, "Got indigestion? These cows could solve your milk problem," 1 June 2018 Selling these labels no doubt help beef up Stitch Fix’s profit margins because the brand is selling their own items instead of wholesaling pieces from other labels. — Cam Wolf, GQ, "Stitch Fix Thinks It Can Hack Your Style," 29 May 2018 This week, Vermont passed a first-in-the-nation law that would facilitate the state’s importation of prescription drugs wholesale from Canada. — Shefali Luthra, Washington Post, "Vermont Legislators Pass A Drug Importation Law. So What?," 22 May 2018 Compare that with a kilo of heroin, which wholesales for about $50,000 in Gulfport and generates a profit of just $200,000. — Fortune, "Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins," 6 June 2018 Law enforcement, environmental NGOs, and aquarium trade importers, wholesales, and retailers have all talked of an effective, non-invasive, and easy-to-implement cyanide test as a sort of Holy Grail. — National Geographic, "‘Holy Grail' Test for Illegal Cyanide-Caught Aquarium Fish May Be Fatally Flawed," 5 June 2018 Trump has rolled back Obama-era initiatives wholesale since taking office. — Tom Simonite, WIRED, "Obama's US Digital Service Survives Trump—Quietly," 31 May 2018 This week, Vermont passed a first-in-the-nation law that would facilitate the state’s importation of prescription drugs wholesale from Canada. — Shefali Luthra, Washington Post, "Vermont Legislators Pass A Drug Importation Law. So What?," 22 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wholesale.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.