Standard Lemma guide

altogether

adv · noun · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɔːl.tʊˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɔː.tuːˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɔːl.təˈɡɛð.ə/
  • General-American: /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
  • General-American: /ˈɔl.təˌɡɛð.ɚ/
  • General-American: /ɑl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
  • General-American: /ˈɑl.təˌɡɛð.ɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛðə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: AO2 L T AH0 G EH1 DH ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

Completely, wholly, or without exception.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Police did not seem altogether satisfied with my alibi.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolutely, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, blind, altogether, at large, at length, cap-a-pie, categorically, completely, detailly, downright, entirely, exhaustively, finally, first and last, flat-out, flat out, from aardvark to zymurgy, from A to Z, from head to toe, from soup to nuts, from stem to stern, from the rooter to the tooter, from top to bottom, from top to toe, fully, handsomely, heartily, head to foot, head to tail, head to toe, hook, line, and sinker, in detail, in full, lock, stock, and barrel, one hundred percent, out-and-out, out and out, outright, particularly, perfectly, plumb, properly, purely, quite, right, root and branch, soundly, soup-to-nuts, straight up, through and through, top to tail, top to toe, totally, totes, to the bone, to the core, to the full, utterly, well and truly, whole, whole cloth, wholly

Antonyms: none provided

2

adv

Meaning 2

On the whole; with everything considered.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all in all, all things considered, altogether, broadly, as a rule, basically, by and large, chiefly, feckly, for the most part, generally, in the large, in the main, largely, mainly, mostly, on the whole, overall, predominantly, pretty well, primarily, principally

Antonyms: none provided

3

adv

Meaning 3

With everything included.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Altogether, your bill comes to $6.99.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all told

Antonyms: none provided

4

adv

Meaning 4

An intensifier: without doubt, clearly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, not-comparable

Examples

  • It was a great game altogether.
  • That took altogether too much time.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A state of nakedness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: colloquial, dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adverb

Meaning 6

to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly')

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he was wholly convinced
  • entirely satisfied with the meal
  • it was completely different from what we expected
  • was completely at fault
  • a totally new situation
  • the directions were all wrong
  • it was not altogether her fault
  • an altogether new approach
  • a whole new idea

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: wholly, entirely, completely, totally, all, whole

Antonyms: none provided

7

adverb

Meaning 7

with everything included or counted

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • altogether he earns close to a million dollars

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all told, in all

Antonyms: none provided

8

adverb

Meaning 8

with everything considered (and neglecting details)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • altogether, I'm sorry it happened
  • all in all, it's not so bad

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all in all, on the whole, tout ensemble

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

informal terms for nakedness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • in the raw
  • in the altogether
  • in his birthday suit

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: raw, birthday suit

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nakedness, nudity, nudeness

History

Etymology

From Middle English altogeder, altogedere, equivalent to al- (“all”) + together. Cognate with Scots awthegither (“altogether”), Middle High German alzegater (“altogether”), Dutch altegaar. Compare also Old English ealġeador, eallġeador (“altogether”), West Frisian allegearre (“altogether”). More at together. The noun sense (nakedness): was popularized in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby.

Across languages

Translations

87 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: напъ́лно (napǎ́lno) — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Bulgarian: съвсе́м (sǎvsém) — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Catalan: totalment — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Catalan: completament — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Danish: uden undtagelse — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Dutch: geheel — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Dutch: totaal — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Esperanto: tute — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Finnish: täysin — without exception; wholly; completely
  • French: complètement — without exception; wholly; completely
  • German: ganz und gar — without exception; wholly; completely
  • German: ohne Ausnahme — without exception; wholly; completely
  • German: ausnahmslos — without exception; wholly; completely
  • German: insgesamt — without exception; wholly; completely
  • German: gänzlich — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Ancient Greek: πάνυ (pánu) — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Hungarian: teljesen — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Hungarian: teljességgel — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Hungarian: egészen — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Irish: ar fad — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Italian: del tutto — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Latin: omnīnō — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Māori: tokitoki — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Norwegian Bokmål: uten unntak — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Norwegian Bokmål: helt og holdent — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fuulstendig — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: utan unntak — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Occitan: completament — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Polish: całkowicie — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Polish: całkiem — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Polish: zupełnie — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Portuguese: completamente — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Romanian: complet — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Romanian: total — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Russian: всеце́ло (vsecélo) — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Russian: совсем (sovsem) — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Scots: awthegither — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Scottish Gaelic: air fad — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Scottish Gaelic: gu lèir — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Slovak: celkom — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Slovak: úplne — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Spanish: por completo — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Turkish: hep birlikte — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Turkish: topluca — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Turkish: cümbür cemaat — without exception; wholly; completely
  • Bulgarian: изця́ло (izcjálo) — on the whole; everything considered
  • Bulgarian: ця́лостно (cjálostno) — on the whole; everything considered
  • Catalan: en total — on the whole; everything considered
  • Danish: alt i alt — on the whole; everything considered
  • Danish: i det store og hele — on the whole; everything considered
  • Dutch: al met al — on the whole; everything considered
  • Dutch: kortom — on the whole; everything considered
  • Esperanto: ĝenerale — on the whole; everything considered
  • Finnish: kaikkiaan — on the whole; everything considered
  • French: en même temps — on the whole; everything considered
  • French: quoi qu'il en soit — on the whole; everything considered
  • German: alles in allem — on the whole; everything considered
  • German: alles zusammengenommen — on the whole; everything considered
  • German: insgesamt — on the whole; everything considered
  • Greek: γενικά (geniká) — on the whole; everything considered
  • Hungarian: összességében — on the whole; everything considered
  • Hungarian: mindent összevéve — on the whole; everything considered
  • Hungarian: egészében véve — on the whole; everything considered
  • Italian: nel complesso — on the whole; everything considered
  • Lao: ທັງຫມົດ (thang mot) — on the whole; everything considered
  • Norwegian Bokmål: alt i alt — on the whole; everything considered
  • Norwegian Bokmål: i det store og det hele — on the whole; everything considered
  • Norwegian Bokmål: alt tatt i bektraktning — on the whole; everything considered
  • Norwegian Bokmål: summa summarum — on the whole; everything considered
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: alt i alt — on the whole; everything considered
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: i det store og det heile — on the whole; everything considered
  • Occitan: tot considerat — on the whole; everything considered
  • Polish: summa summarum — on the whole; everything considered
  • Portuguese: ao todo — on the whole; everything considered
  • Romanian: cu totul — on the whole; everything considered
  • Romanian: în general — on the whole; everything considered
  • Russian: в це́лом (v célom) — on the whole; everything considered
  • Russian: в о́бщем (v óbščem) — on the whole; everything considered
  • Slovak: celkovo — on the whole; everything considered
  • Slovak: v podstate — on the whole; everything considered
  • Spanish: en suma — on the whole; everything considered
  • Swedish: sammanlagt — on the whole; everything considered
  • Esperanto: komplete — with everything included
  • Esperanto: plene — with everything included
  • Hungarian: összesen — with everything included
  • Norwegian Bokmål: alt i alt — with everything included
  • Spanish: todo junto — with everything included
Real reading context

altogether in complete knowledge articles