DictionaryAI

whole

SayHOHL/hoʊl/UK/həʊl/

Noun pluralwholes

Often confused with hole

7 meanings of whole

Practice

  1. 1
    entireadjective
    Complete and not divided or broken into parts.

    Like a full cake before anyone has cut a single slice.

    She ate the whole pizza by herself.

    We spent the whole afternoon playing in the yard.

    UsagePut the or a first: the whole day, a whole cake.

    Similarcomplete, entire, total, full

    Oppositepartial, incomplete

  2. 2
    full-scaleadjective
    Used to make something sound stronger, meaning the full amount or extent.

    That's a whole different problem from the one we started with.

    They built a whole new stadium in just one year.

    UsageOften a whole lot or a whole new: a whole new life.

    Similarcomplete, entire, total

    Note
  3. 3
    entiretynoun
    All of something, or a complete thing with all its parts taken together as one.

    Looked at as a whole, the plan makes good sense.

    The whole of the village turned out for the festival.

    UsageSay as a whole (all together) or on the whole (mostly).

    Similarentirety, total, totality, sum

    Oppositepart, fraction

  4. 4
    natural (food)adjective
    Having all its natural parts still in it, with nothing taken out, like whole milk.

    Like bread made from the full grain, with nothing stripped away.

    Whole milk has more fat than the skim kind.

    This bread is made with whole grains.

    Similarunprocessed, unrefined, intact

    Oppositeprocessed, refined

  5. 5
    in one pieceadverb
    Completely, in one single piece.

    Mom roasted the chicken whole for Sunday dinner.

    My dog grabbed the hot dog off the plate and swallowed it whole.

    UsagePut it after the thing: the snake swallowed the egg whole.

    Similarcompletely, entirely, fully

    Oppositepiecemeal

Less common meanings

  1. 6
    healthyadjective
    Healthy and not hurt or damaged.

    Like a healed bone that works just as well as before.

    After months of rest, she finally felt whole again.

    He came home from the war whole and unharmed.

    UsageOften make someone whole: make them well again.

    Similarhealthy, sound, well, fit, hale

    Oppositebroken, injured, damaged

    Note
  2. 7
    adjective
    Not yet dug out or worked, as with rock or ground in mining.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of whole apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from Old English hāl, meaning 'healthy' or 'safe'. The 'wh-' spelling was added in the 15th century.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts