Altogether

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ɔːl.tʊˈɡɛð.É™(ɹ)/, /ɔː.tÊŠuˈɡɛð.É™(ɹ)/
• US IPA: /É”l.tuˈɡɛθ.Éš/
• Rhymes: -ɛðə(r)

Origin

From Middle English altogeder, altogedere, equivalent to -("all") + together. Cognate with Scots awthegither ("altogether"). Compare also Old English eallġeador ("altogether"), West Frisian allegearre ("altogether"). More at together.

Full definition of altogether

Adverb

1. Without exception; wholly; completely.
• 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,"Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 3, One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis … interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
2. On the whole; with everything considered.
   Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.
• 2011, November 10, Jeremy Wilson, tEngland Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report, A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.

Synonyms

• wholly
• completely
• (on the whole) all in all

Derived terms

• in the altogether