wholesale
part of speech
noun (wholesale, uncountable); adjective (wholesale); adverb (wholesale)
meaning for a pupil
1) (money) Selling goods in large amounts to shops and businesses, who then sell them on to customers at a higher price. tree →
2) (adjective, money) To do with such selling: "wholesale prices". tree →
3) Done on a very large scale, often too much and without care: "wholesale destruction". tree →
4) (adverb) In large amounts, or completely. tree →
sense in the lessons
In money and business lessons, the chain goes: a factory makes goods, a wholesaler buys lots of them cheaply, a shop buys from the wholesaler, and you buy from the shop at the retail price. The difference between wholesale and retail prices is how shops make a profit. In the news, "wholesale" can also mean huge and sweeping, often bad: "wholesale changes", "wholesale destruction". Phrases: "buy wholesale", "wholesale price", "wholesale changes".
examples
- The shop buys its sweets wholesale and sells them one by one. tree →
- The wholesale price of a pen was 20p, and the shop sold it for 50p. tree →
- Grandad runs a wholesale fruit business. tree →
- The storm caused wholesale damage to the forest. tree →
- The new head teacher made wholesale changes to the timetable. tree →
- Buying wholesale is cheaper because you buy a lot at once. tree →
- Then came the mother herself, in crinoline, Madame AUGUST, a wholesale dealer in fruit, proprietress of a large number of fish ponds and a land cultivator. tree →
note
Opposite: retail (selling to the public). A wholesaler is the business that sells wholesale. Maths: profit per item = retail price minus wholesale price; for example, bought at 20p and sold at 50p gives 30p profit per item. Wholesale prices are usually lower per item because you buy in bulk.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wholesale» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.