One word or two? It can be a vital distinction, such as with ‘altogether’ and ‘all together’. These terms used to mean the same thing, but over time they have changed.
As such, it’s now important to know the difference between being ‘altogether’ and being ‘all together’. In this post, we explain how to use these words correctly in your written work.
The word ‘altogether’ has a few uses, but it usually means ‘in total’ or ‘entirely’:
Altogether, I have $20 to spend for the next month.
We stopped going out altogether once we had kids.
Another related use is to mean ‘all things considered’ or ‘taken as a whole’:
I have lived an altogether happy life so far.
Sometimes, ‘in the altogether’ is a slang term for ‘naked’. Strangely, this is mostly used in the UK, which we always thought was too cold for anyone to take their clothes off.
The two-word phrase ‘all together’ usually means ‘all in one place’:
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The penguins are all together in one enclosure.
A second meaning is ‘all in unison’ or ‘all acting together’, like in the title of the Beatles song!
One thing worth noting here is that these terms can be separated in a sentence. For example, ‘We all moved in together’ means the same as ‘we moved in all together’. This would not be possible if we were using the single-word term ‘altogether’.
Unlike the seemingly similar case of ‘alright’ and ‘all right’, which still mean the same thing as one another, ‘altogether’ has developed a very specific meaning as a compound word.
As such, using this word correctly is crucial. If you need a word that means ‘completely’ or ‘entirely’, the single-word ‘altogether’ is correct. If you’re writing about several people or things in one place, however, the term that expresses this is ‘all together’. Remember:
Altogether (one word) = Entirely or as a whole
All together (two words) = All in one place or in unison
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