Wholesale Meaning
/ˈhoʊlseɪl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe sale of products, often in large quantities, to retailers or other merchants.
adjOf or relating to sale in large quantities, for resale.
Sentence Examples
Wholesale prices had been basically flat.
The Japanese distribution system, characterized by layers of wholesale, is complex and costly.
A retail merchant buys wholesale and sells retail.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The large warehouse sells furniture at ____ prices to the general public.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The company sells its products at a ____ price to several many different retailers around the whole of the country today.
Word Origin & History
From whole + sale.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But beyond these cut-offs, to avoid the wholesale alteration of all mileposting and mileages—of bridges and culverts, for example—the original mileposts have remained unaltered."
— 1946 July and August, “Mileposts and their Peculiarities”, in Railway Magazine, page 217:
"By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only."
— 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:
"With financial losses emerging in 1957, the BTC abandoned the diesel pilot scheme in favour of wholesale orders for untried designs."
— 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:
"It still feels unnerving to some, even those caught in the crossfire, to see injuries invented wholesale and lies accepted by the highest court in the land."
— 2023 June 30, Melissa Gira Grant, “The Supreme Court Doesn’t Care That the Gay Wedding Website Case Is Based on Fiction”, in The New Republic, archived from the original on 02 Sep 2025:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The large warehouse sells furniture at ____ prices to the general public.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The company sells its products at a ____ price to several many different retailers around the whole of the country today.