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altogether

 - 3 dictionary results

al⋅to⋅geth⋅er

  [awl-tuh-geth-er, awl-tuh-geth-er]
Use altogether in a Sentence
–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.
—Idiom
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

Synonyms:
1. utterly, totally, absolutely.

Usage note:
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To altogether
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

altogether 
M.E., a strengthened form of all, used in the sense of "a whole" from 1667. The altogether "nude" is from 1894.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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