wholeness

Variant of whole

whole definition

whole (hōl)

adjective

    1. in sound health; not diseased or injured
    2. Archaic healed: said of a wound
  2. not broken, damaged, defective, etc.; intact a whole yolk
  3. containing all the elements or parts; entire; complete a whole set, whole blood
  4. not divided up; in a single unit a whole cheese
  5. constituting the entire amount, extent, number, etc. the whole night
  6. having both parents in common a whole brother
  7. in all aspects of one's being, including the physical, mental, social, etc. the whole man
  8. Arith. integral and not mixed or fractional 28 is a whole number

Etymology: ME (Midland) hool, for hol, hal < OE hal, healthy, whole, hale: akin to Ger heil, ON heill < IE base *kailo-, sound, uninjured, auspicious > Welsh coel, omen

adverb

Informal completely; absolutely a whole new ballgame

noun

  1. the entire amount, quantity, extent, or sum; totality the whole of the estate
  2. a thing complete in itself, or a complete organization of integrated parts; a unity, entirety, or system

Related Forms:

whole Idioms

as a whole

as a complete unit; altogether

a whole lot (or bunch, etc.) of

Informal very many they ate a whole lot of hamburgers

made out of whole cloth

☆
completely fictitious or false; made up

on the whole

all things considered; in general

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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