altogether [awl-tuh -geth -er, awl -tuh -geth -er] SYNONYMS | EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN | IDIOMS adverb wholly; entirely; completely; quite: altogether fitting.
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 in the altogether , Informal nude: When the phone rang she had just stepped out of the bathtub and was in the altogether.
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Origin of altogether 1125–75; variant of
Middle English altogeder. See
all ,
together Usage note 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. This all can be omitted without seriously affecting the meaning: The children were together in the kitchen.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for altogether generally ,
absolutely ,
thoroughly ,
wholly ,
utterly ,
fully ,
perfectly ,
totally ,
quite ,
all ,
well ,
bodily ,
collectively Examples from the Web for altogether Contemporary Examples of altogether Still other people have moved away from the word “diet” altogether .
First, bubonic (rhymes with pneumonic but is altogether different) is a local infection sequestered in a lymph node.
“Sixty-five years altogether ,” she pointed out with a laugh.
So, just a week into a new pack of Microgestin, I stop taking them altogether .
Altogether , more than 5,000 energy-related companies call Houston home.
Historical Examples of altogether There was a scar on one cheek, and, altogether , he was not very prepossessing in his appearance.
Still the country was much improved, and not altogether unknown.
The natives met with were friendly, but to us altogether unintelligible.
She was thus extremely unreasonable and altogether charming.
Perhaps the quiet of his boy had not been altogether the quiet of cowardice.
British Dictionary definitions for altogether 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
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noun in the altogether informal naked
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for altogether early 13c., altogedere , a strengthened form of all (also see together ); used in the sense of "a whole" from 1660s. The altogether "nude" is from 1894.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
