Adjacent Words

whole number definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any of the natural numbers (positive or negative) or zero; "an integer is a number that is not a fraction" [syn: integer, whole number]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1542 any of the set of nonnegative integers; also integer

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whole Whole, a. [OE. hole, hol, hal, hool, AS. h[=a]l well, sound, healthy; akin to OFries. & OS. h?l, D. heel, G. heil, Icel. heill, Sw. hel whole, Dan. heel, Goth. hails well, sound, OIr. c?l augury. Cf. Hale, Hail to greet, Heal to cure, Health, Holy.] 1. Containing the total amount, number, etc.; comprising all the parts; free from deficiency; all; total; entire; as, the whole earth; the whole solar system; the whole army; the whole nation. ``On their whole host I flew unarmed.'' --Milton. The whole race of mankind. --Shak. 2. Complete; entire; not defective or imperfect; not broken or fractured; unimpaired; uninjured; integral; as, a whole orange; the egg is whole; the vessel is whole. My life is yet whole in me. --2 Sam. i. 9. 3. Possessing, or being in a state of, heath and soundness; healthy; sound; well. [She] findeth there her friends hole and sound. --Chaucer. They that be whole need not a physician. --Matt. ix. 12. When Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole. --Tennyson. Whole blood. (Law of Descent) See under Blood, n., 2. Whole note (Mus.), the note which represents a note of longest duration in common use; a semibreve. Whole number (Math.), a number which is not a fraction or mixed number; an integer. Whole snipe (Zo["o]l.), the common snipe, as distinguished from the smaller jacksnipe. [Prov. Eng.] Syn: All; total; complete; entire; integral; undivided; uninjured; unimpaired; unbroken; healthy. Usage: Whole, Total, Entire, Complete. When we use the word whole, we refer to a thing as made up of parts, none of which are wanting; as, a whole week; a whole year; the whole creation. When we use the word total, we have reference to all as taken together, and forming a single totality; as, the total amount; the total income. When we speak of a thing as entire, we have no reference to parts at all, but regard the thing as an integer, i. e., continuous or unbroken; as, an entire year; entire prosperity. When we speak of a thing as complete, there is reference to some progress which results in a filling out to some end or object, or a perfected state with no deficiency; as, complete success; a complete victory. All the whole army stood agazed on him. --Shak. One entire and perfect chrysolite. --Shak. Lest total darkness should by night regain Her old possession, and extinguish life. --Milton. So absolute she seems, And in herself complete. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(whole numbers) A whole number is an exact number such as 1, 7, and 24, as opposed to a number with fractions or decimals. = integer N-COUNT