: 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
Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 14 July 2025
But the retail shop generates 90% of revenue with 5% each for wholesale and the baking workshops.
—Gary Stern, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 23 July 2025
While hotter summers may be here to stay, the wholesale price of electricity will definitely increase next year.
—Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 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
Lisa Lockwood, WWD, 20 Feb. 2025
The idea was to create the first ever international drugstore chain operator and drug wholesaling company.
—Phil Wahba, Fortune, 17 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for wholesale
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
Net revenues for the Levi’s brand increased 9 percent globally on an organic basis, energized by a 10 percent increase in direct-to-consumer organic revenues and a 7 percent increase in wholesale.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 14 July 2025
But the retail shop generates 90% of revenue with 5% each for wholesale and the baking workshops.
—Gary Stern, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Adjective
The algae and the slug may have managed some kind of gene transfer, and over time, produced a new way of living, thanks not to slow, stepwise evolution—the random mutation within a body—but by the wholesale transfer of a piece of code.
—Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 23 July 2025
While hotter summers may be here to stay, the wholesale price of electricity will definitely increase next year.
—Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 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
Alivia launched online in 2020 and in 2021 started wholesaling its clothing.
—Lisa Lockwood, WWD, 20 Feb. 2025
The idea was to create the first ever international drugstore chain operator and drug wholesaling company.
—Phil Wahba, Fortune, 17 June 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 29 Jul. 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
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