altogether

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːl.tʊˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/, /ɔː.tuːˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/, /ɔːltəˈɡɛðə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛðə(r)

altogether (not comparable)

1. Without exception; wholly; completely.
   • 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,"

     Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎:

     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.

2. On the whole; with everything considered.

   Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.

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

     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.

"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."

• (without exception): completely, wholly; see also Thesaurus:completely
• (on the whole): all in all; see also Thesaurus:mostly

• in the altogether