: 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
Ed Hirs, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024
Plus, selling wholesale meant the collection had to be ready well in advance of what was being offered on the website, which was also a challenge.
—Jean E. Palmieri, WWD, 29 Oct. 2024
Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 14 Dec. 2024
Economists polled by Reuters expect India’s wholesale inflation rate to come down to 2.2% from October’s 2.36%.
—Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 13 Dec. 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
Jean E. Palmieri, WWD, 11 Oct. 2024
What was more concerning for Ford, though, was that a Beetle wholesaled for $465 less than the Ford Fairlane and $280 less than the Falcon.
—Larry Printz, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for wholesale 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Doing so would lessen the wild volatility in electricity prices, which range as high as $5 per kilowatt hour wholesale.
—Ed Hirs, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024
Plus, selling wholesale meant the collection had to be ready well in advance of what was being offered on the website, which was also a challenge.
—Jean E. Palmieri, WWD, 29 Oct. 2024
Adjective
Annual wholesale prices last month climbed 3% and gained 3.5% excluding energy and food.
—Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 14 Dec. 2024
Economists polled by Reuters expect India’s wholesale inflation rate to come down to 2.2% from October’s 2.36%.
—Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 13 Dec. 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
Today, women’s accounts for around 15 percent of sales but is only sold through the Billy Reid channels, and is not wholesaled.
—Jean E. Palmieri, WWD, 11 Oct. 2024
What was more concerning for Ford, though, was that a Beetle wholesaled for $465 less than the Ford Fairlane and $280 less than the Falcon.
—Larry Printz, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for wholesale
Dictionary Entries Near wholesale
Cite this Entry
“Wholesale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wholesale. Accessed 25 Dec. 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
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share