student asking question

What's the difference between "entire" and "whole"? Are they always interchangeable?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Entire" and "whole" are synonyms for each other and thus express the same meaning and are pretty much interchangeable. The only difference is that "entire" may sound a little bit more formal while "whole" is a little more casual. Ex: The entire staff came in to work today. Ex: The power went off in the whole neighborhood.

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