wholesome

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled olesome and wollsome

US /ˈhoʊl.səm/ UK /ˈhəʊl.səm/ See IPA manual

Freq #18478

Meanings

1

adj
sound or exhibiting soundness in body or mind

Exercise develops wholesome appetites.
2

adj
conducive to or characteristic of physical or moral well-being

Wholesome attitude.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

healthy healthful nourishing edible

Opposites

unwholesome baneful corrupted deleterious obscene diseased noisome pornographic lewd noxious perverted decadent

Word family

Forms wholesomelywholesomeness

Derived forms wholesomelywholesomeness

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

wholesome attitude
an attitude that supports healthy or morally sound behavior

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From earlier holesome, from Middle English holsom, holsum, helsum, halsum, from Old English *hālsum, *hǣlsum, from Proto-West Germanic *hailasam, from Proto-Germanic *hailasamaz, equivalent to whole + -some or hale (“healthy”) + -some. Cognate with Saterland Frisian heelsoam, Dutch heilzaam, German Low German heelsaam, German heilsam, Icelandic heilsamur, Norwegian Nynorsk helsesam, Swedish hälsosam (“wholesome”).

holsom Middle English *hālsum Old English *hailasam Proto-West Germanic *hailasamaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# wholesome

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈhoʊl.səm/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhəʊl.səm/
**Frequency rank:** 18478

## Meanings
1. sound or exhibiting soundness in body or mind
2. conducive to or characteristic of physical or moral well-being

## Examples
- Exercise develops wholesome appetites.
- Wholesome attitude.

## Synonyms
- healthy
- healthful
- nourishing
- edible

## Antonyms
- unwholesome
- baneful
- corrupted
- deleterious
- obscene
- diseased
- noisome
- pornographic
- lewd
- noxious
- perverted
- decadent

## Derived Forms
- wholesomely
- wholesomeness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: holsom
- Root: *hālsum
- Root: *hailasam
- Root: *hailasamaz
- Affix: -some - tending to

## Etymology
From earlier holesome, from Middle English holsom, holsum, helsum, halsum, from Old English *hālsum, *hǣlsum, from Proto-West Germanic *hailasam, from Proto-Germanic *hailasamaz, equivalent to whole + -some or hale (“healthy”) + -some. Cognate with Saterland Frisian heelsoam, Dutch heilzaam, German Low German heelsaam, German heilsam, Icelandic heilsamur, Norwegian Nynorsk helsesam, Swedish hälsosam (“wholesome”).

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown