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Synonyms

on the whole

Idioms  

  1. Considering everything, as in On the whole we enjoyed our vacation, although the hotel was not perfect by any means. [Late 1600s] Also see the synonyms by and large; for the most part.

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.

But on the whole, the city teams call home matters more in baseball than in any other league.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Last year, on the whole, the U.S. imported more from abroad than ever before.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026

Even Sen. Brian Schatz and Katy Perry got in on the whole thing.

From Slate • Mar. 3, 2026

The protests began as a reaction to the spiralling cost of living and soon focused on the whole regime, whose policies people blamed for their difficulties.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026

And perhaps this attitude, held in spite of what they know and have endured, helps to explain why Negroes, on the whole, and until lately, have allowed themselves to feel so little hatred.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

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.