"a whole nother" meaning in English

See a whole nother in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Determiner

Etymology: Variant of another, with insertion of whole by tmesis. Compare nother (“different”, adj.), which is largely obsolete. Compare also dialectal tother from Middle English þe toþer (“the other”). Etymology templates: {{m|en|another}} another, {{sup|2}} ², {{sup|2}} ², {{m|en|whole}} whole, {{glossary|tmesis}} tmesis, {{m|en|nother||different|pos=adj.}} nother (“different”, adj.), {{m|en|tother}} tother, {{cog|enm||þe toþer|the other}} Middle English þe toþer (“the other”) Head templates: {{head|en|determiner|head=}} a whole nother, {{en-det}} a whole nother
  1. (informal, US) An entirely different; a whole other; intensified version of another. Tags: US, informal Synonyms: a whole 'nother
    Sense id: en-a_whole_nother-en-det-eUFTA1sX Categories (other): American English, English determiners

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for a whole nother meaning in English (2.4kB)

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "another"
      },
      "expansion": "another",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "2"
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      "expansion": "²",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "2"
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      "expansion": "²",
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    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "whole"
      },
      "expansion": "whole",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "tmesis"
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      "expansion": "tmesis",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nother",
        "3": "",
        "4": "different",
        "pos": "adj."
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      "expansion": "nother (“different”, adj.)",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "tother"
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      "expansion": "tother",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "",
        "3": "þe toþer",
        "4": "the other"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English þe toþer (“the other”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Variant of another, with insertion of whole by tmesis. Compare nother (“different”, adj.), which is largely obsolete. Compare also dialectal tother from Middle English þe toþer (“the other”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "determiner",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "a whole nother",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "a whole nother",
      "name": "en-det"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "det",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English determiners",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1890, Mary Louisa Molesworth, “The Mysterious Guide”, in The Story of a Spring Morning, and other tales, →OCLC, page 315",
          "text": "I don't know what we shall do if we have to be a whole 'nother day in the house and in the dark.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Gayl Jones, The Healing, page 18",
          "text": "But that's a whole nother story.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Margo Lanagan, “Rite of Spring”, in Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, Gavin J Grant, editors, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, page 19",
          "text": "A lazy blueness, from a whole nother age, is spread all above me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An entirely different; a whole other; intensified version of another."
      ],
      "id": "en-a_whole_nother-en-det-eUFTA1sX",
      "links": [
        [
          "entirely",
          "entirely"
        ],
        [
          "different",
          "different"
        ],
        [
          "another",
          "another#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, US) An entirely different; a whole other; intensified version of another."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "a whole 'nother"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "a whole nother"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "another"
      },
      "expansion": "another",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "2"
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      "expansion": "²",
      "name": "sup"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "2"
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      "expansion": "²",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "whole"
      },
      "expansion": "whole",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "tmesis"
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      "expansion": "tmesis",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nother",
        "3": "",
        "4": "different",
        "pos": "adj."
      },
      "expansion": "nother (“different”, adj.)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tother"
      },
      "expansion": "tother",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "",
        "3": "þe toþer",
        "4": "the other"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English þe toþer (“the other”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Variant of another, with insertion of whole by tmesis. Compare nother (“different”, adj.), which is largely obsolete. Compare also dialectal tother from Middle English þe toþer (“the other”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "determiner",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "a whole nother",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "a whole nother",
      "name": "en-det"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "det",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English determiners",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1890, Mary Louisa Molesworth, “The Mysterious Guide”, in The Story of a Spring Morning, and other tales, →OCLC, page 315",
          "text": "I don't know what we shall do if we have to be a whole 'nother day in the house and in the dark.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Gayl Jones, The Healing, page 18",
          "text": "But that's a whole nother story.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Margo Lanagan, “Rite of Spring”, in Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, Gavin J Grant, editors, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, page 19",
          "text": "A lazy blueness, from a whole nother age, is spread all above me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An entirely different; a whole other; intensified version of another."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "entirely",
          "entirely"
        ],
        [
          "different",
          "different"
        ],
        [
          "another",
          "another#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, US) An entirely different; a whole other; intensified version of another."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "a whole 'nother"
    }
  ],
  "word": "a whole nother"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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