altogether
[awl-tuh-geth-er, awl-tuh-geth-er]
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.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
generally, absolutely, thoroughly, wholly, utterly, fully, perfectly, totally, quite, all, well, bodily, collectively
Nearby words
- alto clef,
- alto flute,
- alto-,
- alto-relievo,
- altocumulus,
- altoist,
- alton,
- alton towers,
- altona,
- altoona
Idioms
in the altogether, Informal. nude: When the phone rang she had just stepped out of the bathtub and was in the altogether.
Origin of altogether
SYNONYMS FOR altogether
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
Examples from the Web for altogether
altogether
adverb
noun
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
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper