Meaning of whole In English

• 0 complete or not divided:

  • I spent the whole day cleaning.

  • There's still a whole month till my birthday.

  • After my exercise class, my whole body ached.

  • The whole town was destroyed by the earthquake.

  • This whole thing (= situation) is ridiculous.

  • Bill does nothing but complain the whole time (= all the time).

  • You have to stand up in court and promise to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".

  • Her dance compositions added a whole (= completely) new dimension to the contemporary dance repertoire.

  • I have a whole pile of work to do this afternoon.

  • The new computers are a whole lot (= much) faster.

• 1 as a single object and not in pieces:

  • The seeds can be eaten whole or ground in a coffee grinder.

• 2 completely:

  • Now he's arrived, it's a whole different situation.

• 3 a complete thing:

  • Two halves make a whole.

  • You should consider each problem as an aspect of the whole.

  • I'll be on holiday the whole of next week.

  • The whole of his finger was bruised.

  • The whole of the school (= everyone in the school) had come to the fair.

• 4 all of something; the full amount:

  • Painting the two rooms will take the whole day.

  • He cooked a meal for the whole school.

  • You can eat the fruit whole or cut it up.

  • I’ve got a whole lot to do this afternoon.

• 5 all of the parts of something considered together as one thing, or all of something:

  • [ C ] Two halves make a whole.

  • [ U ] She’ll be away the whole of next month.