altogether

From Middle English altogeder, altogedere, equivalent to al- (“all”) +‎ together. Cognate with Scots awthegither (“altogether”), Middle High German alzegater (“altogether”), Dutch altegaar. Compare also Old English ealġeador, eallġeador (“altogether”), West Frisian allegearre (“altogether”). More at together.

The noun sense (nakedness): was popularized in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːl.tʊˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/, /ɔː.tuːˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/, /ɔːl.təˈɡɛð.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, /ˈɔl.təˌɡɛð.ɚ/, /ɑl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, /ˈɑl.təˌɡɛð.ɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛðə(ɹ)

altogether (not comparable)

1. Completely, wholly, or without exception.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely

   Police did not seem altogether satisfied with my alibi.

   • 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”, in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes:

     Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

   • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:

     And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him.

2. On the whole; with everything considered.

   Synonyms: all in all; see also Thesaurus:mostly

   Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.

   • 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England 5, Iceland 0: under 21 match report”, in The Telegraph‎^[1]:

     A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After FIFA’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.

3. With everything included.

   Altogether, your bill comes to $6.99.

4. (informal) An intensifier: without doubt, clearly.

   It was a great game altogether.

   That took altogether too much time.

“Altogether” and “all together” do not mean the same thing. The one-word term is used to mean “wholly, completely, in total," whereas the two-word term is used to mean "as a group, in the same place,” etc.

altogether (plural altogethers)

1. (colloquial, usually with the) A state of nakedness. (Especially in the phrase in the altogether)
   • 1896, The Quartier Latin‎^[2], volume 1, number 1:

     And she objects, too, to the "altogether." Her gowns will never be cut more décolleté than those seen in the boxes of the Metropolitan Opera House of New York city.

   • 1930 August 4, “Prix de Rome”, in Time:

     Hearing that his wife was posing in the altogether for the great Spanish satirist, the Duke of Alba swore that he would paint Goya's picture in Goya's blood.

   • 2004 November 25, David Carr, “When a TV Talking Head Becomes a Talking Body”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 September 2008:

     Last week, a Cleveland news anchor, Sharon Reed, was caught on camera stripping nude and joining a gaggle of other people in the altogether.