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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
adjectiveDefinition 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
adverbDefinition of wholesale (Entry 3 of 4)
: in a wholesale manner
wholesale
verbwholesaled; wholesaling
Definition of wholesale (Entry 4 of 4)
: to sell (something) in quantity usually for resale
: to sell in quantity usually for resale
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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.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun In late March wholesale egg prices skyrocketed to an average of $3 a dozen compared to just under $1 at the beginning of that month.
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Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "It wasn't just toilet paper. People stocked up on eggs during pandemic, sending wholesale prices skyrocketing," 23 Apr. 2020 The organization fell down on this most basic task by buying Chinese spin wholesale.
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The Editors, National Review, "Trump Is Right about the WHO," 16 Apr. 2020 Huen is sourcing machines from China, too, but says Beijing has prohibited the machines from being exported wholesale.
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Eamon Barrett, Fortune, "Hong Kong dangles incentives for local face mask production as coronavirus stretches supply," 18 Mar. 2020 The truck normally delivers its fresh produce wholesale to area schools, restaurants and grocery stores, but the drivers of these SUVs are regular consumers looking for food.
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Dallas News, "Dallas food wholesalers are now selling retail produce boxes to meet consumer grocery demand," 26 Mar. 2020 Faigel put him in touch with Carreto, who is now planning to scale up production of her tamales and begin selling her mole paste wholesale.
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Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, "Diverse, locally owned food start-ups make the menus at Harvard, UMass, and BC," 24 Jan. 2020 Tailor Cut Produce sells its products wholesale, and they are distributed to institutions such as hospitals, restaurants and schools, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
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Anna Sturla, CNN, "New Jersey company recalls cut fruit products after 33 sickened with salmonella," 9 Dec. 2019 Curtis didn’t dream up Yesterday wholesale; the germ of the concept was writer and producer Jack Barth’s.
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Morgan Enos, Billboard, "Danny Boyle, Himesh Patel and Richard Curtis Talk 'Yesterday' and How Its Rising Star Channels The Beatles' Story," 9 May 2019 On multiple occasions, Dana would accommodate demands by Adria, redraft the operating agreement wholesale to do so, and attempt for months to get Adria to respond only to be faced with a new and completely different demand.
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Chris Eggertsen, Billboard, "Tom Petty's Widow Files New Appeals Against Daughters in Escalating Battle Over Late Rocker's Trust," 30 May 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective Street markets are a source of contagion: in a wholesale fruit market in Lima almost 80% of vendors tested positive for the coronavirus.
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The Economist, "Bello Latin America’s economic plight is getting worse," 23 May 2020 But decisions that govern how electricity is bought and sold in wholesale markets are made at the federal level, giving Trump’s Republican majority at FERC levers to tip the scales toward fossil fuels.
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Chris Martin, Bloomberg.com, "Trump Aims for New York in Latest Salvo Against Clean Energy," 12 May 2020 Advenco buys the custard at wholesale; Ted Drewes gets the marketing benefit of being inside machines that pepper college campuses and airports.
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Margaret Littman, Fortune, "Vending machines—the original contactless delivery systems—now deliver ramen and art to U.S. consumers," 25 Apr. 2020 Each kit costs around $2 to manufacture and no more than $9 to buy wholesale.
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Jane Bradley, New York Times, "Shortage of Virus Tests in U.K. Lures Profiteers and Con Artists," 24 Mar. 2020 Liu Yuanfei, who used to be a regular shopper at the Wuhan wholesale market where the virus is suspected to have emerged, recalls seeing live crocodiles, hedgehogs and deer there.
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Bloomberg.com, "Deadly Virus Finds a Breeding Ground in China’s Food Markets," 8 May 2020 For instance, the vegetable farmers of Thiruvallur in the outskirts of Chennai live almost totally at the mercy of the traders at the city’s wholesale market at Koyambedu.
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S Gopikrishna Warrier, Quartz India, "Decentralisation and equitable growth: Two lessons for India from the Covid-19 pandemic," 3 May 2020 On the outskirts of Paris, the main hall of one of the world’s largest wholesale food markets has been converted into a makeshift morgue.
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Jody Rosen, New York Times, "How Covid-19 Has Forced Us to Look at the Unthinkable," 29 Apr. 2020 San Francisco’s historic wholesale flower market partially reopened Wednesday after a month-long shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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J.k. Dineen, SFChronicle.com, "SF Flower Mart reopens in time for Mother’s Day with new social distancing rules," 22 Apr. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and served in the infantry at Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) before returning to Greensburg with an honorable discharge in 1955, joining the family retail and wholesaling businesses.
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Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star, "Robert Rust, who had COVID-19, dedicated his life to family, community and faith," 6 May 2020 But on Wednesday, the ship nevertheless began disgorging passengers wholesale.
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New York Times, "Hundreds Released From Diamond Princess Cruise Ship in Japan," 10 Mar. 2020 Fiat Chrysler and its peers are expected to lose tens of billions of dollars by idling their plants for weeks because they book revenue by wholesaling vehicles to their dealers.
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Gabrielle Coppola, Bloomberg.com, "Fiat Charts Path to Plants Reopening Against Uncertain Backdrop," 28 Apr. 2020 Illinois also could soon join the list, as Chicago wholesale gasoline sold at a record-low 20 cents Monday morning, Bloomberg data show.
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Fortune, "‘Can’t even give it away:’ Gasoline drops below $1 a gallon as U.S. economy locks down," 24 Mar. 2020 Cactus Corn plans to launch an e-commerce site this week, as well as wholesaling their products to local stores, Levandowski said.
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Katherine Fitzgerald, azcentral, "Phoenix-area food trucks are embracing creativity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's how," 31 Mar. 2020 The company is also transitioning some locations to wholesale food operations to help the public find groceries.
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Alexandria Burris, Indianapolis Star, "Indiana restaurants are closed for the rest of the month. Here's how they're adjusting.," 16 Mar. 2020 Liquor wholesales are prohibited by state law from selling to retailers on the list.
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Patrick Danner, ExpressNews.com, "Gabriel’s Liquor alleges state is blocking deal with Walmart," 14 Feb. 2020 What's more, Hill City will test the waters of wholesaling some pieces to other retailers to grow the brand—something Gap Inc. hasn't done for any of its other brands, including Banana Republic and The Gap.
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Phil Wahba, Fortune, "Gap Inc.’s Hill City Set to Pop Up Offline into Physical Retail," 1 Oct. 2019
See MoreThese 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.
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More Definitions for wholesale
wholesale
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of wholesale
(Entry 1 of 3)
: the business of selling things in large amounts to other businesses rather than to individual customers
wholesale
adjectiveEnglish Language Learners Definition of wholesale (Entry 2 of 3)
: relating to the business of selling things in large amounts to other businesses rather than to individual customers
: affecting large numbers of people or things
wholesale
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of wholesale (Entry 3 of 3)
: to sell (things) to other businesses rather than to individual customers
: to be sold to other businesses for a specified price
See the full definition for wholesale in the English Language Learners Dictionary
wholesale
nounwhole·sale | \ ˈhōl-ˌsāl \
\Kids Definition of wholesale
(Entry 1 of 3)
: the sale of goods in large quantities to dealers
wholesale
adjectiveKids Definition of wholesale (Entry 2 of 3)
1 : of, relating to, or working at selling to dealers
2 : done or happening on a large scale
wholesale panic
wholesale
verbwholesaled; wholesaling
Kids Definition of wholesale (Entry 3 of 3)
: to sell to dealers usually in large quantities
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Time Traveler for wholesale
The first known use of wholesale was in the 15th century
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