whole

[hohl]

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adjective

comprising the full quantity, amount, extent, number, etc., without diminution or exception; entire, full, or total: He ate the whole pie. They ran the whole distance.
containing all the elements properly belonging; complete: We have a whole set of antique china.
undivided; in one piece: to swallow a thing whole.

Mathematics. integral, or not fractional.
not broken, damaged, or impaired; intact: Thankfully, the vase arrived whole.
uninjured or unharmed; sound: He was surprised to find himself whole after the crash.
pertaining to all aspects of human nature, especially one's physical, intellectual, and spiritual development: education for the whole person.

noun

the whole assemblage of parts or elements belonging to a thing; the entire quantity, account, extent, or number: He accepted some of the parts but rejected the whole.
a thing complete in itself, or comprising all its parts or elements.
an assemblage of parts associated or viewed together as one thing; a unitary system.

Idioms

as a whole, all things included or considered; altogether: As a whole, the relocation seems to have been beneficial.
on/upon the whole,
1. in view of all the circumstances; after consideration.
2. disregarding exceptions; in general: On the whole, the neighborhood is improving.
out of whole cloth, without foundation in fact; fictitious: a story made out of whole cloth.

Origin of whole

before 900; Middle English hole, hool (adj. and noun), Old English hāl (adj.); cognate with Dutch heel, German heil, Old Norse heill; see hale¹, heal; spelling with w reflects dial. form

Related formswhole·ness, nounself-whole, adjective

Can be confusedhole whole (see synonym study at hole) (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms for whole

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1. undiminished, integral, complete. 5. unimpaired, perfect. 8. totality, aggregate. Whole, total mean the entire or complete sum or amount. The whole is all there is; every part, member, aspect; the complete sum, amount, quantity of anything, not divided; the entirety: the whole of one's property, family. Total also means whole, complete amount, or number, but conveys the idea of something added together or added up: The total of their gains amounted to millions.

Antonyms for whole

1. partial. 8. part.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wholeness

entirety, integrity

Examples from the Web for wholeness

Contemporary Examples of wholeness

It is against their wholeness that the incomplete impressions of the recent past or present are juxtaposed.
Resurrecting Afghanistan: Khaled Hosseini’s ‘And the Mountains Echoed’
Rafia Zakaria
May 28, 2013
What has been grossly overlooked throughout age immemorial is that both aspects need each other for wholeness!
Alanis Morissette On Why America Must Embrace the Feminine
Alanis Morissette
November 1, 2012
“Where there is no desire or pursuit, there is no wholeness, but there are satisfactory lesser states, fragments,” Vidal wrote.
Gore Vidal’s Great Love, Baseball Prodigy James Trimble
Michael Daly
August 2, 2012

Historical Examples of wholeness

Why should the wholeness of that wild youth of his change to this?
The House of Pride
Jack London
In direct praxis, the wholeness of the being is externalized.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin
The elements of beauty are design, wholeness, and significance.
The Gate of Appreciation
Carleton Noyes
That wholeness and roundness, in which she had rejoiced, had gone from her altogether.
The Vicar of Bullhampton
Anthony Trollope
In these there is a wholeness, a strength, and a rapture, which still demands an explanation.
The Sense of Beauty
George Santayana

British Dictionary definitions for wholeness

whole

adjective

containing all the component parts necessary to form a total; completea whole apple
constituting the full quantity, extent, etc
uninjured or undamaged
healthy
having no fractional or decimal part; integrala whole number
of, relating to, or designating a relationship established by descent from the same parents; fullwhole brothers
out of whole cloth US and Canadian informal entirely without a factual basis

adverb

in an undivided or unbroken pieceto swallow a plum whole

noun

all the parts, elements, etc, of a thing
an assemblage of parts viewed together as a unit
a thing complete in itself
as a whole considered altogether; completely
on the whole
1. taking all things into consideration
2. in general

Derived Formswholeness, noun

Word Origin for whole

Old English hāl, hǣl; related to Old Frisian hāl, hēl, Old High German heil, Gothic hails; compare hale 1

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 wholeness

mid-14c., from whole (adj.) + -ness.

whole

"entire body or company; the full amount," late 14c., from whole (adj.).

whole

adj.

Old English hal "entire, unhurt, healthy," from Proto-Germanic *khailaz "undamaged" (cf. Old Saxon hel, Old Norse heill, Old Frisian hal, Middle Dutch hiel, Dutch heel, Old High German, German heil "salvation, welfare"), from PIE *koilas (cf. Old Church Slavonic celu "whole, complete;" see health). The spelling with wh- developed early 15c. The sense in whole number is from early 14c. For phrase whole hog, see hog.