Dictionary

wholesome en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈhoʊl.səm/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhəʊl.səm/ (Received-Pronunciation)

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”).

Meanings

1. Promoting good physical health and well-being.
   • I prethee go, and get me ſome repaſt, I care not what, ſo it be holſome foode. c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 223, column 2:
   • Everything we do is so wholesome. 1953, Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter, John Dighton, Roman Holiday, spoken by Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn):
2. Promoting moral and mental well-being.
   • Though hard, my friends, yet wholesome are the truths, taught in affliction's school, whence the pure soul rises refined, and soars above the world. 1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music):
3. Favorable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous.
   • A wholeſome tongue is a tree of life: but peruerſneſſe therein is a breach in the ſpirit. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 15:4, column 1:
4. Marked by wholeness; sound and healthy.
5. Decent; innocuous; sweet.
   • Sometimes white Lyllies did their Leaves afford, With wholſom Polly-flow'rs, to mend his homely Board: […] 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 128, lines 195–196:
   • The more solicitous of the two was Nurse Cramer, a shapely, pretty, sexless girl with a wholesome unattractive face. 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171:
   • There's something tragic, but almost pure Think I could love you, but I'm not sure There's something wholesome, there's something sweet Tucked in your eyes that I'd love to meet 2017 April 13, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile, performed by Lovelytheband:
   • Around the same time, “wholesome” memes of cute doggos and puppers rejuvenated social media feeds that seemed daily filled with fresh horrors. 2019, Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, Riverhead Books, →ISBN:
   • The comment section on a recent post making fun of a “cute” and “wholesome” Doomer Girl meme is mixed. 2020 February 3, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “The Misogynistic Joke That Became a Goth-Meme Fairy Tale”, in The Atlantic:

Forms

Antonyms

unwholesome

Deriveds

wholesomely · wholesomeness

Synonyms

healthy (promoting health) · healthful (promoting health) · salubrious (promoting health)

Translations (107)

enm holsom (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · da retskaffen (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · nl deugdelijk (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · tr yaralı (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · es lozano (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · oc san (promoting good health, and well-being) · fr sain (promoting good health, and well-being) · sv nyttig (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · ka საღი (promoting good health, and well-being) · mi hauora (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · hu egészséges (promoting good health, and well-being) · de heilsam (promoting good health, and well-being) · hu hasznos (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · de tugendhaft (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · mi whakahauora (promoting good health, and well-being) · ka ჯანმრთელი (promoting good health, and well-being) · ka კეთილთვისებიანი (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · tr sağlıklı (promoting good health, and well-being) · es íntegro (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · es edificante (decent; innocuous; sweet) · de gesund (promoting good health, and well-being) · sv hälsosam (promoting good health, and well-being) · nb sunn (promoting good health, and well-being) · tr sıhhatli (promoting good health, and well-being) · sv nyttig (promoting good health, and well-being) · tr faziletli (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · nb helsebringende (promoting good health, and well-being) · fi terveellinen (promoting good health, and well-being) · sv but see helylle (promoting good health, and well-being) · de förderlich (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · ru благонравный (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · bg здравосло́вен (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · sv but see helylle (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · de gesund (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · es enternecedor (decent; innocuous; sweet) · it salubre (promoting good health, and well-being) · da sund (promoting good health, and well-being) · hu jóleső (decent; innocuous; sweet) · fo heilsugevandi (promoting good health, and well-being) · de rechtschaffen (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · hu jótékony (promoting good health, and well-being) · bg здравосло́вен (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · hu épületes (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · tr faydalı (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · ka საღი (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · fr vertueux (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · oc salubre (promoting good health, and well-being) · is heilsusamlegur (promoting good health, and well-being) · bg здравосло́вен (promoting good health, and well-being) · eo saniga (promoting good health, and well-being) · fi terve (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · da helsebringende (promoting good health, and well-being) · mk здрав (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · da sund (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · es saludable (promoting good health, and well-being) · de gesundheitsförderlich (promoting good health, and well-being) · sh blagotvoran (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · oc vertuós (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · fr sain (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · mk доброде́телен (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · mk благо́творен (promoting good health, and well-being) · oc san (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · pl zdrowy (promoting good health, and well-being) · hu üdítő (decent; innocuous; sweet) · es edificante (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · hu szívmelengető (decent; innocuous; sweet) · sv sund (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · he בריא (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · cs zdravý (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · gl san (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · hu egészséges (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · es tierno (decent; innocuous; sweet) · hu helyes (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · ka ჯანმრთელი (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · es sano (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · ru благотво́рный (promoting good health, and well-being) · fr salubre (promoting good health, and well-being) · pt saudável (promoting good health, and well-being) · es conmovedor (decent; innocuous; sweet) · de gesundheitsfördernd (promoting good health, and well-being) · cmn 治愈的，治愈系 (promoting good health, and well-being) · hu kedves (decent; innocuous; sweet) · hu erényes (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · fi tervehenkinen (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · fi hyveellinen (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · tr erdemli (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · hu tápláló (promoting good health, and well-being) · es íntegro (decent; innocuous; sweet) · ru добродетельный (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · hu jóleső (promoting good health, and well-being) · hu tanulságos (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · fo heilsugóður (promoting good health, and well-being) · pt salutar (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · enm holsom (promoting good health, and well-being) · is heilnæmur (promoting good health, and well-being) · eo sana (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · pt íntegro (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · sv hälsosam (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · ru поле́зный (promoting good health, and well-being) · hu üdvös (favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous) · hu üdvös (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · es substancioso (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · sv sund (promoting good health, and well-being) · ru здоровый (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · mk по́лезен (promoting good health, and well-being) · gl forte (marked by wholeness; sound and healthy) · ga folláin (promoting good health, and well-being)