as a whole
"as-a-whole" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“as a whole” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used to relate to all the parts of something: altogether, on the whole
Corpus desk
Index EN-as-a-whole · as a whole · English
as a whole · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | as a whole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “as a whole” in English
Rare enough to double-check
as a whole is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Used to relate to all the parts of something: altogether, on the whole".
No misspelling variants are generated for as a whole in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is as a whole, spelled A-S- -A- -W-H-O-L-E.
Definition
- 1Used to relate to all the parts of something: altogether, on the whole
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how as a whole appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The sets are being sold as a whole, which affects the trade as a whole.
If a Bushel of Wheat be considered as a Whole whose Parts are Eight Gallons, and if Five of those Gallons be assumed, then the remaining Three are the Complement of that Part to the Whole.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.