w ogóle

Polish

Alternative forms

• wogule (proscribed)

Etymology

Literally, “in general”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔˈɡu.lɛ/, (unstressed, colloquial) /ˈvɔɡ.lɛ/

• Audio 1:

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• Audio 2:

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• Rhymes: -ulɛ, -ɔɡlɛ

Particle

w ogóle

1. (idiomatic) by the way (incidentally; used in referencing a parenthetical statement not timely, central, or crucial to the topic at hand; foregone, passed by, something that has already happened)

   Synonym: swoją drogą

   A tak w ogóle, to mam na imię Kamila. ― And, by the way, my name is Kamila.

2. (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) at all, even (to the slightest degree, in any way, at any time or in any circumstance)

   Synonyms: ani trochę, ani w ząb, ni w ząb, nic, wcale

   W ogóle nie wiem, o czym mówisz. ― I don't know at all what you are talking about.

   Czy on to w ogóle zrobił? ― Did he even do this?

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), w ogóle is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 21 times in scientific texts, 2 times in news, 36 times in essays, 39 times in fiction, and 58 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 156 times, making it the 370th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• w ogóle in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• w ogóle in Polish dictionaries at PWN