Etimology
From Middle English 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-, introduced in the 15th century, was for disambiguation with hole, and was absent in Scots.
adjective
whole (comparative wholer or more whole, superlative wholest or most whole)
Entire, undivided.
Sound, uninjured, healthy.
(of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.
(mining) As yet unworked.
Examples
Synonyms: total; see also Thesaurus:entire
I ate a whole fish.
During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
“ […] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”
Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages.
I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party. She ate a whole bunch of french fries.
There, a huge blue heron stands sentry like a statue, eye on the surface, waiting for his next meal to wriggle by. A lone grassy hill overlooks it all, well above the flood line, big enough to pitch a whole mess of tents [on].
I'm thinking, thanks a whole fuck of a lot, Robert. You could have laid that on me weeks ago.
Synonyms: hale, well; see also Thesaurus:healthy
He is of whole mind, but the same cannot be said about his physical state.
Here, with one balm for many fevers found, / Whole of an ancient evil, I sleep sound.
whole wheat; whole milk
adverb
whole (comparative more whole, superlative most whole)
(colloquial) In entirety; entirely; wholly.
Examples
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely
I ate a fish whole!
That's a whole other story.
noun
whole (plural wholes)
Something complete, without any parts missing.
An entirety.
Examples
Synonyms: entireness, totality; see also Thesaurus:entirety
Meronym: part
This variety of fascinating details didn't fall together into an enjoyable, coherent whole.