: 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, 21 Mar. 2025
There’s an army of human beings behind the scenes tagging data, cleaning data, creating content wholesale from scratch, and those jobs are quite unstable, low-quality.
—Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2025
Virgie Tovar, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025
The department said wholesale egg prices had dropped almost 50 percent since late last year, and the New York wholesale egg price, which peaked at $8.53 per dozen, had steadily declined to $4.08 as of March 19.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 21 Mar. 2025
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
Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 14 Mar. 2025
Chen stressed that Strahan’s collections will continue to be wholesaled at those retailers as well as others such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Fanatics, which offer his more casual collections including those created for the Super Bowl as well as his line for the UFL league.
—Jean E. Palmieri, WWD, 26 Feb. 2025
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
While its 2025 wholesale partnerships are just starting to roll out, the brand expects wholesale will comprise about 10 percent of overall revenue this year.
—Lisa Lockwood, WWD, 21 Mar. 2025
There’s an army of human beings behind the scenes tagging data, cleaning data, creating content wholesale from scratch, and those jobs are quite unstable, low-quality.
—Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
Today, this more integrated partnership is the first iteration of a more significant strategic wholesale push from Universal Standard, which is now set to launch with Anthropologie, Macy’s, Wantables, nearly 50 boutiques across the country this year.
—Virgie Tovar, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025
The department said wholesale egg prices had dropped almost 50 percent since late last year, and the New York wholesale egg price, which peaked at $8.53 per dozen, had steadily declined to $4.08 as of March 19.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 21 Mar. 2025
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
Keemo Fashion Group Ltd continues to operate in the apparel and garment trading business, focusing on wholesaling to distributors mainly based in China.
—Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 14 Mar. 2025
Chen stressed that Strahan’s collections will continue to be wholesaled at those retailers as well as others such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Fanatics, which offer his more casual collections including those created for the Super Bowl as well as his line for the UFL league.
—Jean E. Palmieri, WWD, 26 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wholesale
Cite this Entry
“Wholesale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wholesale. Accessed 28 Mar. 2025.
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