entire

entire — adjective

1. The whole of something, with every part included and nothing left out, rather th

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

The whole of something, with every part included and nothing left out, rather than only a piece, section, or part of it.

Example

Sade spent the entire morning cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.

entire + time period (morning, day, week)

The entire village came out to celebrate the harvest festival.

entire + collective noun (village, team, population)

Common collocations
  • entire + time noun (morning, day, week, year)
  • entire + collective noun (village, team, population, family)
  • entire + physical object (book, pizza, building)
Synonyms
  • whole

    less formal and more common in everyday speech

  • complete

    stresses that nothing needed is missing

  • total

    emphasises the sum of all parts

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

entire + noun

Usage Note

Typically appears before a noun (attributive position). Takes no comparative or superlative forms — you cannot say 'more entire' or 'most entire'.

Common Mistakes

Entire student passed the test.
Every student passed the test.
'entire' refers to one whole thing, not each member of a group.
I ate entire pizza.
I ate an entire pizza / the entire pizza.
'entire' needs a determiner (the, an, my, etc.) before it.

2. In one complete piece; not broken, damaged, or harmed, especially after a danger

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

In one complete piece; not broken, damaged, or harmed, especially after a dangerous event or long period.

Example

After the earthquake, the old temple remained entire while newer buildings collapsed.

predicative: remain + entire

Ryo was amazed that the glass bowl arrived entire despite the long journey.

Common collocations
  • remain + entire
  • stay + entire
  • arrive + entire
Synonyms
  • intact

    more common in modern English for this sense

  • undamaged

    more explicit about absence of harm

  • unbroken

    specifically for physical objects

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

remain + entire

stay + entire

entire + noun

Usage Note

Less common than sense 1 in everyday speech. Often appears predicatively with verbs like 'remain' or 'stay'. The synonym 'intact' is more frequent in modern English for this meaning.

Common Mistakes

The glass remained very entire after the fall.
The glass remained entirely intact after the fall.
'entire' in this sense is not normally modified by degree adverbs like 'very'; use 'intact' instead.

entire — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Whole, entire, complete, total, and full all relate to something being undivided or containing all necessary parts, but they emphasise different aspects. Whole focuses on an object being in one piece rather than divided ('the whole cake'). Entire is very similar but often stresses that no part is omitted ('the entire school attended the assembly'). Complete emphasises that nothing required is missing ('a complete set of tools'). Total stresses the sum of all components and often carries a numerical meaning ('the total cost was higher than expected'). Full describes a container or space at maximum capacity ('a full glass of water') or the greatest possible degree ('full attention'). In many contexts entire and whole are interchangeable, but entire sounds slightly more formal. Use whole for everyday concrete objects, entire for emphasis on completeness and groups, complete for sets or tasks, total for amounts and sums, and full for capacity or degree.

whole ↗complete ↗total ↗full ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • almost entire
  • nearly entire

Phrases

  • in its entirety

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Entire comes from Old French 'entier', which traces back to Latin 'integer' — a combination of 'in-' (not) and 'tangere' (to touch). The original Latin meaning was 'untouched' or 'undivided', which explains why the word developed both the sense of 'whole/complete' (something not touched or split apart) and 'intact' (something not damaged). The same Latin root gives us 'integer' (a whole number) and 'integrity' (the quality of being whole and undivided). The noun senses — both the horse sense ('uncastrated' → 'untouched') and the 'whole/entirety' sense — came later in English from the same root idea of wholeness and lack of division.