: 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
Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 12 June 2025
Licensing and retail net revenue was $15.6 million for the first quarter, a decrease of 50.9 percent, primarily due to the impact of transitioning kids’ and footwear inventory to licensees and transitioning adult wholesale to a licensing partner.
—David Moin, Footwear News, 5 June 2025
Simon Moore, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
That year, the company already started to drastically reduce its wholesale network, cutting 18,000 doors down to 6,000.
—Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 17 June 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, Footwear News, 5 June 2025
The company wholesales also its collection at Nordstrom.com, Revolve, and Nuuly, and the company’s Wellness collection is sold at Ulta and Bluemercury.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for wholesale
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Noun
Those guidelines are then passed to the CDC director, who—with only the rarest of exceptions—accepts that advice wholesale.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 12 June 2025
Licensing and retail net revenue was $15.6 million for the first quarter, a decrease of 50.9 percent, primarily due to the impact of transitioning kids’ and footwear inventory to licensees and transitioning adult wholesale to a licensing partner.
—David Moin, Footwear News, 5 June 2025
Adjective
That’s notable because producer prices can be a leading indicator of prices that consumers pay in subsequent months — although commentary from the National Retail Federation does suggest that even though producer prices are not rising, recent substantial wholesale price deflation may be ending.
—Simon Moore, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
That year, the company already started to drastically reduce its wholesale network, cutting 18,000 doors down to 6,000.
—Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 17 June 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 currently wholesales the brand at Nordstrom, Revolve, Shopbop, Level Shoes, Galeries Lafayette, John Lewis, La Maison Simons, La Rinascente, De Bijenkorf, The Iconic, among others.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 5 June 2025
The company wholesales also its collection at Nordstrom.com, Revolve, and Nuuly, and the company’s Wellness collection is sold at Ulta and Bluemercury.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 21 May 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 20 Jun. 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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