totality
/təʊˈtæləti/toh-TA-luh-tee
/toʊˈtæləti/toh-TA-luh-tee
Meaningthe state or quality of being whole
Common meaning: the quality of being total
- totwhole, all of itLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1882 · scan
- aladjective ending: relating to
- itynoun ending: being so, the quality of
Journey through time
- Proto-Indo-European*tu-‘swell, be strong or large’source
- Latintōtus, -a, -um‘whole, all of it’
- Frenchidiom
- Englishtotal‘whole’
- Englishformed in English from totaltotality‘the quality of being total’ · today
Sources & notes
Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: the state or quality of being whole. It can be inferred from any of: total.
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from total + -ity (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).
Roots
- tōtus, -a, -um Latin “whole, all of it”
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