wholesale
Americannoun
-
wholesales
plural
adjective
-
of, relating to, or engaged in sale by wholesale.
-
extensive; broadly indiscriminate.
wholesale discharge of workers.
- Synonyms:
- promiscuous, undiscriminating, inclusive, thorough, comprehensive, far-reaching
adverb
-
in a wholesale way; on wholesale terms.
I can get it for you wholesale.
-
in large quantities; on a large scale, especially without discrimination.
Wild horses were slaughtered wholesale.
verb (used with or without object)
-
wholesales,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wholesaled,
past participle, past
-
wholesaling
present participle
noun
-
the business of selling goods to retailers in larger quantities than they are sold to final consumers but in smaller quantities than they are purchased from manufacturers Compare retail
-
-
in large quantities
-
at wholesale prices
-
adjective
-
of, relating to, or engaged in such business
-
made, done, etc, on a large scale or without discrimination
adverb
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wholesalesimple
-
wholesalessimple
-
have wholesaledperfect
-
has wholesaledperfect
-
am wholesalingprogressive
-
are wholesalingprogressive
-
is wholesalingprogressive
-
have been wholesalingperfect progressive
-
has been wholesalingperfect progressive
Past
-
wholesaledsimple
-
had wholesaledperfect
-
was wholesalingprogressive
-
were wholesalingprogressive
-
had been wholesalingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wholesale
1375–1425; late Middle English, from the phrase by hole sale in gross; see whole, sale
Explanation
Use the adjective wholesale to describe something that's done on a big, broad scale, like wholesale changes made by a new government that affect an entire country. It's pretty common to see the phrase "wholesale destruction," especially when historians are talking about the overwhelming effects of war or ecological disasters. When wholesale is a verb, it has a very different meaning — to sell things in bulk, usually to someone who is going to sell it again at a higher retail price. The earliest meaning of the word was "in large quantities," combining whole and sale into the phrase "by whole sale."
Vocabulary lists containing wholesale
The Things They Carried
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City of Bones
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"Simplexity" by Jeffrey Kluger
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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.
See Examples For:
Pushing it through the teeth of the City Hall grinder without the wholesale shredding of good intentions is a tougher trick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2026
She said that considering the "wholesale implementation" of the recommendations "provoked fundamental questions about the editorial proposition of a show that, I believe, has now run its course over 10 years".
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
The County of Ventura 2025 Crop and Livestock Report shows strawberries as the county’s leading agricultural commodity, with growers reaping $808 million in wholesale revenue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
This won’t solve our inbox woes wholesale, but it will, at least, offer an easier path to a little relief.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026
Not only did she drive it, she drove it well enough to pull a trailer behind it full of wholesale supplies for her family’s grocery store.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
Production, exports and wholesales of passenger cars in China all hit fresh highs in November compared with the same month in prior years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
Industries such as transportation and wholesales showed double-digit falls in special payments, the data showed.
From Reuters ● Jan. 5, 2023
Consumers have faced sharply higher prices for goods and services this year as businesses deal with an unprecedented jump in wholesales prices.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 26, 2021
To some extent, the board split reflected different levels of dependence on the imported supplies that Metropolitan wholesales to the Southland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2018
He wholesales them around netting, say, fifty thousand dollars.
From Status Quo by Mack Reynolds
That’s not the narrative being wholesaled by the financial press and investment pundits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
“In a normal situation, there’s some surplus that gets generated when you’re farming,” he said, explaining that the surplus would be wholesaled to other retailers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2021
He has brokered real estate deals in Florida, arranged bank loans in Venezuela, marketed industrial pumps in Thailand, wholesaled shoes in Panama, promoted a building-materials company to Mexican interests and advised transnational financial services firms.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 28, 2015
After that, I started a company that wholesaled mobile phones.
From New York Times ● Oct. 15, 2011
Justice demands a careful consideration of every case; it cannot be machine-made; it cannot be wholesaled.
From The Negro and the elective franchise. A Series Of Papers And A Sermon (The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers, No. 11.) by Charles C. Cook
Drivers include expected stable margins and increase in exclusive distribution contracts for specialty pharmaceuticals in prescription pharmaceuticals wholesaling operations, the analyst says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
Equipment wholesaling and transportation logistics are service industries that saw big jumps in the April data, a sign that higher oil prices are transitioning into a “second-order effect,” Helfstein says.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
"Services grew a little, with wholesaling, pubs and restaurants and IT companies all doing well, partially offset by falls in accountancy and business rental & leasing," she added.
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2025
By the 1930s, the Mayers had expanded into jewelry wholesaling and made more than 100 street clocks for customers in multiple states, said Mendez.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2024
Of course, when I buy big lots I do a little wholesaling, but I put away all I cannot sell at the time.”
From The Boy Broker Or, Among the Kings of Wall Street by Frank Andrew Munsey
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
