whole
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1 entire or complete (adj.) A2 Elementaryincluding every part of something; all of it.
constituting the full amount, extent, or duration of something without exception.
ExampleI was so hungry that I ate the whole pizza by myself.
ExampleThe whole department was required to attend the safety briefing after the recent incident in the laboratory.
UsageUsually placed after a determiner like 'the', 'my', or 'this'.
PitfallI spent the whole day to study.I spent the whole day studying.When using 'whole day' with an activity, use the -ing form of the verb.
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2 not broken or divided (adj.) B1 Intermediatein one piece and not broken or cut into parts.
undivided and in a single piece; not fragmented or processed into smaller units.
ExampleThe recipe says to add the whole cloves of garlic to the pan.
ExampleArchaeologists were surprised to find several whole jars among the ruins, as most pottery from that era is found in shards.
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3 a complete thing (n.) B2 Upper Intermediatea complete thing made of many parts.
a thing that is complete in itself; an entity formed by combining various parts.
ExampleThe different departments must work together to benefit the company as a whole.
ExampleWhile each chapter is interesting on its own, the book must be judged as a whole to appreciate the author's message.
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4 entirely (adv.) B2 Upper Intermediate Informalcompletely or totally.
used as an intensifier to mean entirely or wholly.
ExampleThat is a whole different problem that we need to discuss later.
ExampleThe project turned out to be a whole lot more expensive than the original estimates suggested.
Teacher's tipIn formal writing, 'entirely' or 'completely' is usually preferred over this adverbial use of 'whole'.
From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic hail, from Proto-Germanic hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). The spelling with wh-, attested since ca. 1400, represents an excrescent /w/, which developed in words with initial /(h)ɔː/, /(h)oː/ in southwestern dialects of Middle English. While this pronunciation did not establish itself in the standard language (except in one), the spelling survived in whole and whore, in the former case likely reinforced by a desire to disambiguate from hole. Cognates Compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil; also Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy.