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I am trying to understand the sentence "Tom loves Jane with his whole being" without involving the word "with".

Does the sentence "Tom loves Jane with his whole being" have the exact same meaning as "Tom's whole being loves Jane"?

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    It technically does have the same meaning, but the latter would not really be used in any situations that I can think of.
    – Inazuma
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 12:27

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with his whole being is a metaphor meaning completely and without reservations.

It is similar in meaning to wholeheartedly, which means with (someone's) whole heart. The heart is a metaphor for the emotions, so wholeheartedly means with all of one's emotions.

being is what defines a person- their essence, personality, spirit, soul: the part that goes away when somebody dies. with his whole being means with every part of his personality.

The following sentence might be a suitable way of explaining your original sentence:

Everything that Tom thinks, says or does reflects his love for Jane.

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  • Thank you for your answer - so the sentence "Tom loves Jane with his whole being" basically has the same meaning as "Tom is completely in love with Jane"?
    – Jin-Dominique
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 13:49
  • @JDneverSleeps: exactly.
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 15:19
  • sorry to keep bugging you but I really want to confirm that the sentence "Tom loves Jane with his whole being" has the same meaning as "100% of Tom loves Jane" - is this the case? (it sounds funny to say "100% of Tom loves Jane", but I can't think of better way to describe the meaning that I am thinking of. I am keep asking because in my native language, the two does not necessarily mean the same)
    – Jin-Dominique
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 0:32
  • It's a metaphor: metaphors can't really be expressed as percentages. I have updated my answer with a suitable alternative sentence.
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 6:41
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The phrase "Tom loves Jane with his whole being" is slightly idiomatic - a bit like, for example, "Tom loves Jane with his heart". You wouldn't really say, "Tom's heart loves Jane".

"...with his whole being" is suggesting complete or unfaltering love.

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