as a whole
240
3.5
- idiom
:
en su conjunto
- The needs of the cohort as a whole are different from the individual needs of college students.
- people as a whole
- population as a whole
- taken as a whole
But for MIT as a whole, it's an opportunity.
- But for MIT as a whole, it's an opportunity.
- And the race as a whole made a huge impact.
- So the suit though, as a whole, I think it looks really nice.
- And then I'm like, wait, as a whole, your life isn't that bad?
- And when you're describing the universe as a whole, you shouldn't say that it happened.
- And so when we look at our life as a whole, right?
- And that's true of the world as a whole.
- But really it's just all the things like this city as a whole, it's just so cool.
- There's elements of it that I kind of enjoyed, but as a whole it just didn't work for me.
Examples
-
The point is, you have to consider the system as a whole, not just parts of it.
Fiction book (1999) -
Our country as a whole is not getting enough support.
-
And so thinking about that problem as a whole seems really relevant.
-
Looking back on it as a whole, is college worth it to you?
-
And the race as a whole made a huge impact.
-
Now, our team as a whole is not the same.
-
But if you look at Earth as a whole, it has a kind of memory.
-
But yeah, I think as a whole, higher education is worth it.
-
We must act to benefit society as a whole.
-
We must act to benefit society as a whole.
Synonyms
616
3.1
Including all parts to give a general view
189
3.0
In total when you add everything
76
3.2
A way to say you have thought about everything
72
2.3
Together, all people act or decide as one
4
5.4
Looking at all parts together
Antonyms
How Complete
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'considering all parts together' is directly derivable from 'whole' (totality) combined with the grammatical framing 'as a', which signals manner or role; the phrase simply presents something in the capacity of a single complete unit. This compositional pattern is common across languages (e.g., 'como un todo', 'dans l'ensemble') and follows regular English grammar, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
As a whole comes from the image of a finished puzzle or a whole fruit, where you look at the complete thing rather than at single pieces. So it means 'considering everything together'.