altogether
Americanadverb
-
wholly; entirely; completely; quite.
altogether fitting.
- Synonyms:
- absolutely, totally, utterly
-
with all or everything included.
The debt amounted altogether to twenty dollars.
-
with everything considered; on the whole.
Altogether, I'm glad it's over.
idioms
adverb
-
with everything included
altogether he owed me sixty pounds
-
completely; utterly; totally
he was altogether mad
-
on the whole
altogether it was a very good party
noun
Commonly Confused
The forms altogether and all together, though often indistinguishable in speech, are distinct in meaning. The adverb altogether means “wholly, entirely, completely”: an altogether confused scene. The phrase all together means “in a group”: The children were all together in the kitchen. The word all can be omitted without seriously affecting the meaning: The children were together in the kitchen.
Etymology
Origin of altogether
First recorded in 1125–75; variant of Middle English altogeder; all, together
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Without EHCPs, she says children are at risk of being placed in settings which are inappropriate for their needs, or missing out on education altogether.
From BBC
She stated that “reader and writer sit down to a game, as it were, with the odds, of course, altogether on the latter’s side.”
Farmers are fearful that they could lose their livelihoods altogether as other countries take action and stop the import of South African animal products.
From BBC
This means more software can be produced at a new very low cost, devaluing current enterprise software makers, or even replacing them altogether.
From Barron's
In response to increasingly physical and centrally compact defences in the Premier League, City were scoring by bypassing teams' low-blocks altogether.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
