on the whole
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Generally or overall, considering all aspects
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
nói chung hoặc tổng thể, xem xét tất cả các khía cạnh
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: on the whole thing
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
On the whole, I'm satisfied with the service
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “on the whole” mean?
Generally or overall, considering all aspects Literally: on the whole thing
Is “on the whole” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.