wholesome

C2 Topic:Mind & Cognition

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

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

Mind & Cognition

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# 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
- Mind & Cognition

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wholesome

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