as a whole

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as a whole

1. (idiomatic) Used to relate to all the parts of something: altogether, on the whole

   The sets are being sold as a whole, which affects the trade as a whole.

   • 1735, John Kirkby, Arithmetical Institutions: Containing a Compleat System of Arithmetic Natural, Logarithmical, and Algebraical:

     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.

   • 1898, J. Beattie Crozier, Civilization and progress‎^[1], page 145:

     And just as it is only the animal organism as a whole that can be regarded as a real entity, the calls of which it is composed having no distinct independent life, so Comte constantly repeats that 'Humanity is the only real existence, the individual being a mere metaphysical abstraction.'

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     Economically, too, London is startlingly different. The capital, unlike the country as a whole, has no budget deficit: London’s public spending matches the taxes paid in the city. The average Londoner contributes 70 percent more to Britain’s national income than people in the rest of the country.

• “as a whole”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.