ENGLISH
REFERENCE

wholesale

n. uncountable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈhoʊɫˌseɪɫ// UK //hˈəʊlseɪl// whole·sale

n. the business of selling goods in large amounts to other businesses rather than to the public. You usually pay a lower price when you buy this way.

n. the business of selling goods in large quantities to be retailed by others. Often used in contrast with retail.


SIMPLE

The shop buys its stock at wholesale.

CONTEXTUAL

By purchasing their supplies at wholesale, the restaurant chain significantly reduced its monthly operating costs.

COMPLEX

The transition from traditional retail to wholesale allowed the manufacturer to scale operations without the overhead of managing individual storefronts.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

From whole + sale.

Usage

Commonly used as the object of the preposition 'at' or as a modifier before another noun.

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