whoever

[hoo-ev-er]

pronoun

possessive

whosever ,

objective

whomever .

1. whatever person; anyone that.

   Whoever did it should be proud. Ask whoever is there. Tell it to whomever you like.

2. no matter who.

   I won't do it, whoever asks.

3. who? what person? (used to express astonishment, disbelief, disdain, etc.).

   Whoever is that? Whoever told you such a thing?

whoever

/ huːˈɛvə /

pronoun

1. any person who; anyone that

   whoever wants it can have it

2. no matter who

   I'll come round tomorrow, whoever may be here

3. an intensive form of who, used in questions

   whoever could have thought that?

4. informal,  an unknown or unspecified person

   give those to John, or Cathy, or whoever

Word History and Origins

Origin of whoever¹

Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; who, ever

Example Sentences

Edyta added: "Everyone says hello. I was putting the Christmas decorations up at the window, whoever passed on the pavement was waving to me, it was so nice - you would not get that in a big city."

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Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy appears close to being appointed as Rodgers' permanent successor and O'Neill thinks Celtic are well placed for the new man in charge, whoever it may be.

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Reeves has probably saved her job for now—but the same may not be true for whoever at the OBR was responsible for Wednesday’s debacle.

Read more on Barron's

And at the end of “Lady in the Lake,” Maddie has the realization that whoever she’s writing about, she’s always been writing about herself.

Read more on Salon

Crucially, officers knew there was a good chance that whoever was at the wheel at the time of the crash might have come into contact with the driver's side airbag as it activated.

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Related Words

• someone