# altogether

Pronunciation: US say "awl-tuu-GETH-ur" /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/; UK say "awl-tuu-GETH-uh" /ɔːl.tʊˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/

## Adverb

1. Completely, wholly, or to the fullest extent, with no exception remaining.
   - Simple: Completely, with nothing left out or missing.
   - _The old road was abandoned altogether after the highway opened._
   - _She removed the chapter altogether rather than try to revise it._
2. On the whole; with everything taken into account.
   - Simple: Looking at everything together, as a whole.
   - _Altogether, the team performed better than anyone had expected._
   - _It was a strange week, but altogether a productive one._
3. Including everything; counted as one combined total.
   - Simple: Counting everything together to get the total.
   - _Altogether, the repairs cost more than the car was worth._
   - _The collection holds three hundred items altogether._
5. Used informally to add force to what is said, marking it as clear and beyond doubt. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Truly and clearly, without any doubt.
   - _That was a mighty save altogether, and the crowd was still cheering a minute later._
   - _You were very kind altogether to drive me all the way to the airport at five in the morning._

## Noun

4. A playful term for the state of being completely naked, used chiefly in the phrase "in the altogether." *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A light way of saying that someone has no clothes on, used in the phrase "in the altogether."
   - _Caught in the altogether by his surprise visitors, he grabbed a towel._
   - _The children escaped bath time and ran through the house in the altogether._

## Origin

From Middle English altogeder, equivalent to al- ("all") plus together, with cognates such as Scots awthegither, Middle High German alzegater, and Dutch altegaar. The noun sense meaning "nakedness" was popularized by George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/altogether (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).