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altogether - 4 dictionary results

al⋅to⋅geth⋅er

[awl-tuh-geth-er, awl-tuh-geth-er]
–adverb
1. wholly; entirely; completely; quite: altogether fitting.
2. with all or everything included: The debt amounted altogether to twenty dollars.
3. with everything considered; on the whole: Altogether, I'm glad it's over.
4. in the altogether, Informal. nude: When the phone rang she had just stepped out of the bathtub and was in the altogether.

Origin:
1125–75; var. of ME altogeder. See all, together


1. utterly, totally, absolutely.


The forms altogether and all together, though often indistinguishable in speech, are distinct in meaning. The adverb altogether means “wholly, entirely, completely”: an altogether confused scene. The phrase all together means “in a group”: The children were all together in the kitchen. This all can be omitted without seriously affecting the meaning: The children were together in the kitchen.
al·to·geth·er   (ôl'tə-gěth'ər)   
adv.  
  1. Entirely; completely; utterly: lost the TV picture altogether; an altogether new approach.
  2. With all included or counted; all told: There were altogether 20 people at the dinner.
  3. On the whole; with everything considered: Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.
n.  A state of nudity. Often used with the: in the altogether.

[Middle English al togeder : al, all; see all + togeder, together; see together.]
Usage Note: Altogether and all together do not mean the same thing. We use all together to indicate that the members of a group perform or undergo an action collectively: The nations stood all together. The prisoners were herded all together. All together is used only in sentences that can be rephrased so that all and together may be separated by other words: The books lay all together in a heap. All the books lay together in a heap.

Altogether

Al`to*geth"er\, adv. [OE. altogedere; al all + togedere together. See Together.]

1. All together; conjointly. [Obs.]

Altogether they went at once. --Chaucer.

2. Without exception; wholly; completely.

Every man at his best state is altogether vanity. --Ps. xxxix. 5.
Language Translation for : altogether
Spanish: del todo, totalmente,
German: ganz und gar,
Japanese: 全く

altogether 
M.E., a strengthened form of all, used in the sense of "a whole" from 1667. The altogether "nude" is from 1894.
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