wherewith

[ wair-with, -with, hwair- ]
See synonyms for wherewith on Thesaurus.com
adverb, conjunction
  1. Literary. with which; by means of which.

  2. Archaic.

    • with what?

    • because of which; by reason of which.

    • whereupon; at which.

pronoun
  1. Archaic. that by which; that with which.

noun
  1. Rare. wherewithal.

Origin of wherewith

1
First recorded in 1150–1200, wherewith is from the Middle English word wherwith.See where, with

Words Nearby wherewith

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wherewith in a sentence

  • Five hundred of our fighting men are running to and fro between cliffs and sea carrying stones wherewith to improve our pier.

  • Approaching a native hut to ask for a piece of charcoal wherewith to light a cigar, he happened to look inside.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • Our gunners had put more than they could afford into the bombardment and had very little wherewith to pave the way.

  • Behold, when the wall is fallen: shall it not be said to you: Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it?

  • He had no good sword wherewith to defend himself were he attacked, no good, solid ground on which to take his stand.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini

British Dictionary definitions for wherewith

wherewith

/ (wɛəˈwɪθ, -ˈwɪð) archaic, or formal /


pronoun
  1. (often foll by an infinitive) with or by which: the pen wherewith I am wont to write

  2. something with which: I have not wherewith to buy my bread

adverb
  1. with what?

sentence connector
  1. with or after that; whereupon

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012