toto caelo

English

Alternative forms

• toto cælo

Etymology

From Latin tōto (“whole, all”) + caelō (“heaven”), literally “by the whole [extent] of heaven”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtəʊtəʊˈsiːləʊ/

Adverb

toto caelo (not comparable)

1. (law) By diametrical opposition, as far apart as possible.
   • 1689, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding‎^[1], London: Thomas Basset, Book 4, Chapter 20, p. 362:

     All which three, viz. Things as they are in themselves knowable; Actions as they depend on us, in order to Happiness; and the right use of Signs in order to Knowledge, being toto cælo different, they seemed to me to be the three great Provinces of the intellectual World, wholly separate and distinct one from another.

   • 1789, John Pinkerton, An Enquiry into the History of Scotland Preceding the Reign of Malcolm III. or the Year 1056‎^[2], London: George Nicol, Volume 2, Appendix, p. 204:

     The Ingævones, according to Pliny’s own account, were the Chauci, &c. who were all on the west, not the east, so that he errs toto cælo.

   • 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois, chapter 2, in The Souls of Black Folk‎^[3], Chicago: McClurg, page 31:

     […] where local agents differed toto cælo in capacity and character, where the personnel was continually changing, the outcome was necessarily varied.

Translations

By diametrical opposition, as far apart as possible

• Spanish: ser algo totalmente distinto, ser algo completamente distinto, diferir totalmente, ser algo totalmente diferente