totális

Totális is a Hungarian adjective meaning "total, complete, whole" and is used to describe something as existing or operating in its entirety. It carries a stronger sense of absoluteness than more everyday synonyms and is common in formal, political, and military contexts as well as in ordinary speech.

In standard usage, totális typically appears in fixed phrases such as totális vereség (total defeat), totális ellenőrzés (total control/oversight), totális háború (total war), and totális megsemmisítés (total destruction). The adverb form is totálisan, while totál is a colloquial short form meaning "totally." The word can modify both concrete things and abstract concepts, underscoring completeness or extremity.

Etymology and related forms: totális is borrowed from the Latin totus via international vocabularies and has cognates in other languages, including English total and French total. In Hungarian spelling, the adjective is totális, with the adverb totálisan and the colloquial form totál. A closely related noun is totalság or totalitás, which refer to the idea of totality or, in political contexts, totalitarianism (totalitarizmus) rather than to the adjective itself.

Relation to similar terms: totális differs from teljes (complete) in nuance; teljes is broad and neutral, while totális emphasizes completeness and extremity. The term totalitarian concepts in Hungarian are typically expressed with totalitás or totalitarizmus, not with totális as an adjective alone.

See also: totalitarianism, totality, teljes, totálisan.