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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

wholesale

/ˈhoʊlˌseɪl/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does wholesale mean?

noun

  1. The sale of products, often in large quantities, to retailers or other merchants.

adjective

  1. Of or relating to sale in large quantities, for resale.
  2. (figuratively) Extensive, indiscriminate, all-encompassing; blanket.
More meanings (3)

adverb

  1. In bulk or large quantity.
  2. (figuratively) Indiscriminately.

verb

  1. To sell at wholesale.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈhoʊlˌseɪl/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

“We have seen both the retailers and also the wholesale manufacturers. I can trace each of the busts now from the beginning.”
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Return of Sherlock HolmesProject Gutenberg ebook #108
Jeffreys was as fond of money for himself as of misery for others, and he sold pardons wholesale to fill his pockets.
Charles DickensA Child's History of EnglandProject Gutenberg ebook #699
More book examples (3)
A third and fourth friend in the vicinity was appealed to with the same disheartening reply of a story of wholesale spoliation.
Frank Lewis Dyer; Thomas Commerford MartinEdison: His Life and InventionsProject Gutenberg ebook #820
The circulation between the dealers, as it is carried on by wholesale, requires generally a pretty large sum for every particular transaction.
Adam SmithAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsProject Gutenberg ebook #3300
I have seen one who robbed her husband wholesale, that, as she told her confessor, she might distribute the more liberal alms.
Michel de MontaigneEssays of Michel de Montaigne — CompleteTranslated by Charles CottonProject Gutenberg ebook #3600