wholesome
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhoʊl.səm/
ipa: /ˈhəʊl.səm/
rhymes: -əʊlsəm
Forms: form: more wholesome
form: wholesomer
form: most wholesome
form: wholesomest
form: holesom
form: holesome
form: wholsom
form: wholsome
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”).
Senses: examples: text: I prethee go, and get me ſome repaſt,
 I care not what, ſo it be holſome foode.
ref: 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:
glosses: Promoting good physical health and well-being.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music):
glosses: Promoting moral and mental well-being.
examples: text: A wholeſome tongue is a tree of life: but peruerſneſſe therein is a breach in the ſpirit.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 15:4, column 1:
glosses: Favorable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous.
glosses: Marked by wholeness; sound and healthy.
examples: text: Sometimes white Lyllies did their Leaves afford,
 With wholſom Polly-flow'rs, to mend his homely Board: […]
ref: 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:
text: The more solicitous of the two was Nurse Cramer, a shapely, pretty, sexless girl with a wholesome unattractive face.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171:
text: 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
ref: 2017 April 13, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile, performed by Lovelytheband:
text: Around the same time, “wholesome” memes of cute doggos and puppers rejuvenated social media feeds that seemed daily filled with fresh horrors.
ref: 2019, Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, Riverhead Books, →ISBN:
text: The comment section on a recent post making fun of a “cute” and “wholesome” Doomer Girl meme is mixed.
ref: 2020 February 3, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “The Misogynistic Joke That Became a Goth-Meme Fairy Tale”, in The Atlantic:
glosses: Decent; innocuous; sweet.
Synonyms: sense: promoting health
word: healthy
sense: promoting health
word: healthful
sense: promoting health
word: salubrious
Derived terms: wholesomely
wholesomeness