: 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
Trefis Team, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
Sales representatives for wholesale and manufacturing The department expect sales representatives for wholesale and manufacturing products to about 38,000 employees, an increase of about 8% from 2022.
—Ricardo Torres, Journal Sentinel, 27 Dec. 2024
Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2025
The Premier League side would have been expected to make wholesale changes for a cup game against lower-league opposition, but the starting 11 included the team’s best player, Iliman Ndiaye, as well as first-team regulars Idrissa Gueye, Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalii Mykolenko, and Orel Mangala.
—James Nalton, Forbes, 10 Jan. 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
David Moin, WWD, 8 Jan. 2025
The pair are sticking with a direct-to-consumer approach and will not be wholesaling, choosing instead to home in on providing superior customer experiences in their retail destinations in London, New York and Los Angeles.
—Hikmat Mohammed, WWD, 23 Dec. 2024
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
In its third-quarter results, Guess reported mixed regional performance, characterized by strength in European markets and Americas wholesale, offset by declines in North American and Asian retail segments.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
Sales representatives for wholesale and manufacturing The department expect sales representatives for wholesale and manufacturing products to about 38,000 employees, an increase of about 8% from 2022.
—Ricardo Torres, Journal Sentinel, 27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
Advertisement There was Leland Stanford, who was once a wholesale grocer in Sacramento and later became governor and founded a university bearing his name.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2025
The Premier League side would have been expected to make wholesale changes for a cup game against lower-league opposition, but the starting 11 included the team’s best player, Iliman Ndiaye, as well as first-team regulars Idrissa Gueye, Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalii Mykolenko, and Orel Mangala.
—James Nalton, Forbes, 10 Jan. 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
The company will also be looking to save millions in costs by creating a share services organization, pooling functions such as finance, supply chain, technology, wholesaling, human resources and legal.
—David Moin, WWD, 8 Jan. 2025
The pair are sticking with a direct-to-consumer approach and will not be wholesaling, choosing instead to home in on providing superior customer experiences in their retail destinations in London, New York and Los Angeles.
—Hikmat Mohammed, WWD, 23 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for wholesale
Dictionary Entries Near wholesale
Cite this Entry
“Wholesale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wholesale. Accessed 18 Jan. 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