: the sale of commodities in quantity usually for resale (as by a retail merchant)
1
: performed or existing on a large scale especially without discrimination
wholesale slaughter
2
: of, relating to, or engaged in the sale of commodities in quantity for resale
a wholesale grocer
: in a wholesale manner
wholesaled; wholesaling
: to sell (something) in quantity usually for resale
: to sell in quantity usually for resale
Examples of wholesale in a Sentence
Adjective
The crops originated from wholesale growers.
Is that price retail or wholesale?
Verb
The company wholesales clothing to boutiques in the area.
Recent Examples on the Web
Lisa Lockwood, WWD, 25 June 2024
Making progress on these issues, which directly involve US sovereignty and interests, is a lot easier than changing India’s domestic trajectory wholesale.
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 22 May 2024
Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 28 June 2024
And city customers paid higher water and sewer rates due to the city being charged retail rates while their suburban
counterparts were charged wholesale rates.
—Courtland Merkel, Baltimore Sun, 28 June 2024
Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 10 Aug. 2012
ByteStyle, the company’s code of values, preaches a culture that could have been lifted wholesale from Google or Amazon: diverse, inclusive, radically honest and transparent.
—Alex W. Palmer, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2022
Martino Carrera, WWD, 21 June 2024
By the early 1990s, Horizon was a multimillion-dollar business, manufacturing its own darts and retailing and wholesaling products made by others.
—David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 29 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for wholesale 
Noun
Its first initiative will be the U.S. Polo Assn.’s inaugural fall 2024 homeware collection, launching at wholesale this summer.
—Lisa Lockwood, WWD, 25 June 2024
Making progress on these issues, which directly involve US sovereignty and interests, is a lot easier than changing India’s domestic trajectory wholesale.
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 22 May 2024
Adjective
The collections will also be available at select wholesale doors where the brand is sold.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 28 June 2024
And city customers paid higher water and sewer rates due to the city being charged retail rates while their suburban
counterparts were charged wholesale rates.
—Courtland Merkel, Baltimore Sun, 28 June 2024
Adverb
It got picked up wholesale from blog to blog and Tumblr to Tumblr so rapidly that the pedigree of it got lost.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 10 Aug. 2012
ByteStyle, the company’s code of values, preaches a culture that could have been lifted wholesale from Google or Amazon: diverse, inclusive, radically honest and transparent.
—Alex W. Palmer, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2022
Verb
The collection is being wholesaled with showroom appointments in Milan and Paris.
—Martino Carrera, WWD, 21 June 2024
By the early 1990s, Horizon was a multimillion-dollar business, manufacturing its own darts and retailing and wholesaling products made by others.
—David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 29 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for wholesale
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wholesale.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near wholesale
Cite this Entry
“Wholesale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wholesale. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
wholesale
1 of 3 noun
whole·sale
ˈhōl-ˌsāl 
: the sale of goods in large quantity usually for resale (as by a store owner)
wholesale
2 of 3 adjective1
: of, relating to, or engaged in the sale of goods in quantity for resale
a wholesale grocer
wholesale prices
2
: done on a large scale : general
wholesale changes in the team's roster
wholesale
adverb
wholesale
3 of 3 verb
wholesaled; wholesaling
: to sell usually in large amounts for resale
wholesaler
noun
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