altogether
English
Etymology
From Middle English altogeder, altogedere, equivalent to al- (“all”) + together. Cognate with Scots awthegither (“altogether”), Middle High German alzegater (“altogether”). Compare also Old English ealġeador, eallġeador (“altogether”), West Frisian allegearre (“altogether”). More at together.
Pronunciation
Adverb
altogether (not comparable)
- Without exception; wholly; completely.
- 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,"
- Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
- 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,"
- On the whole; with everything considered.
- Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.
- 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England 5, Iceland 0: under 21 match report”, in The Telegraph:
- A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After FIFA’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.
Usage notes
"Altogether" and "all together" do not mean the same thing. The one-word term is used to mean "wholly, completely, in total" whereas the two-word term is used to mean "as a group, in the same place, etc."
Synonyms
- (without exception): completely, wholly; see also Thesaurus:completely
- (on the whole): all in all; see also Thesaurus:mostly
Derived terms
Translations
without exception; wholly; completely
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on the whole; everything considered
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