Whole″some (?), a. [Compar.Wholesomer (?); superl.Wholesomest.] [Whole + some; cf. Icel. heilsamr, G. heilsam, D. heilzaam.]
1. Tending to promote health; favoring health; salubrious; salutary.
Wholesome thirst and appetite. Milton.
From which the industrious poor derive an agreeable and wholesome variety of food. A Smith.
2. Contributing to the health of the mind; favorable to morals, religion, or prosperity; conducive to good; salutary; sound; as, wholesome advice; wholesome doctrines; wholesome truths; wholesome laws.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life. Prov. xv. 4.
I can not... make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased. Shak.
A wholesome suspicion began to be entertained. Sir W. Scott.
3. Sound; healthy. Shak.
— Whole″some‐ly, adv. — Whole″some‐ness, n.