who
pronoun
what person or persons?.
who
1 American
[hoo]
/ hu /
pronoun
whom,
objective
whose
possessive
-
what person or persons?.
Who did it?
-
(of a person) of what character, origin, position, importance, etc..
Who does she think she is?
-
the person that or any person that (used relatively to represent a specified or implied antecedent).
It was who you thought.
-
(used relatively in restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses to represent a specified antecedent, the antecedent being a person or sometimes an animal or personified thing).
Any kid who wants to can learn to swim.
-
Archaic. the person or persons who.
idioms
WHO
2
American
[duhb-uhl-yoo-eych-oh]
/ ˈdʌb əlˌjuˈeɪtʃˈoʊ /
abbreviation
who
1
British
/ huː /
pronoun
-
which person? what person? used in direct and indirect questions
he can't remember who did it
who met you?
-
used to introduce relative clauses with antecedents referring to human beings
the people who lived here have left
-
the one or ones who; whoever
bring who you want
WHO
2
British
abbreviation
Usage
What is WHO? The World Health Organization, commonly abbreviated as WHO, is an agency of the United Nations that works to promote public health around the world. One of its principal focuses is combating communicable diseases, such as influenza, HIV, and malaria. In 2020, the World Health Organization notably helped coordinate international efforts to control and prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Health Organization was founded on April 7, 1948, when its constitution came into force. WHO inherited the activities of its precursors, the International Office of Public Health, founded in 1907, and the League of Nations Health Organization (LNHO), which was dissolved in 1946. As stated in its constitution, the World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The organization is guided by the principles that health is a fundamental human right and that every person should enjoy the highest standard of health. The World Health Organization helped lead one of the greatest public health achievements in history: the eradication of smallpox, a highly contagious disease that has ravaged humanity since antiquity. But in 1979, WHO declared smallpox officially eradicated—that is, eliminated as a naturally occurring disease—as the result of vaccination programs. The World Health Organization was also a major player in the near eradication of polio, a viral disease that can cause debilitating muscle weakness. WHO has helped spearhead efforts against many other communicable diseases, including Ebola, HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. While best known for its work in fighting communicable diseases, the World Health Organization pursues a broad array of programs and projects across the globe addressing:
- noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer and diabetes
- health-related issues across people’s lifetimes
- tobacco and drug use
- environmental health issues, including clean air and water
- food safety and security
- road safety
- emergency response
- healthcare policies, including seeking universal healthcare coverage
Commonly Confused
The typical usage guide statement about the choice between who and whom says that the choice must be determined by the grammar of the clause within which this pronoun occurs. Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause: Who are you? The voters who elected him have not been disappointed. Whom is the objective form: Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance? This method of selecting the appropriate form is generally characteristic of formal writing and is usually followed in edited prose. In most speech and writing, however, since who or whom often occurs at the beginning of the sentence or clause, there is a strong tendency to choose who no matter what its function. Even in edited prose, who occurs at least ten times as often as whom, regardless of grammatical function. Only when it directly follows a preposition is whom more likely to occur than who: Mr. Erickson is the man to whom you should address your request. In natural informal speech, whom is quite rare. Who were you speaking to? is far more likely to occur than the “correct” To whom were you speaking? or Whom were you speaking to? However, the notion that whom is somehow more “correct” or elegant than who leads some speakers to make an inappropriate hypercorrection: Whom are you? The person whom is in charge has left the office. See also than .
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of who
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hwā; cognate with Old High German hwer, Gothic hwas; akin to Greek tís, Irish cé, Latin quis, Latvian kas, Russian kto, Sanskrit ka
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Rare is the suburban grill chef who doesn’t keep an instant-read thermometer in his apron pocket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Hasencamp said many who are involved in the talks hope the two-year plan will keep them out of court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
But we can wholeheartedly recommend this dispatch from Slate’s Alexander Sammon, who visited his local Taco Bell to eat chalupas with the brave Americans who aren’t letting the risk of a parasite ruin their appetite.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
The Ugandan - who was wearing a Wallace tartan kilt in his country's colours - thanked those who had made the multi-sports event possible.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The guerrillas are small groups of Filipino combatants who work with the US military to fight the Japanese.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The World Health Organization estimates that around 7 million people die from air pollution annually, while 99% of the world’s population lives somewhere that is exposed to air pollution levels above WHO health guidelines.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
According to the WHO, the rate of recorded infections in July has been the fastest in any previous Ebola outbreak, including some 80 cases in a single day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
The WHO said better management of conditions like hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol could also help reduce dementia risk.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
"Mistrust is the real battleground," WHO chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on social media, external in June.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
In March 2009, he left WHO and Harvard to become the seventeenth president of Dartmouth—the first Asian American president of any Ivy League university.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
There have been at least two infants who have contracted measles so far this year in California — both of whom traveled internationally before falling ill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The Times article interviews some of the residents of Channing House, an assisted-living facility in Palo Alto, California, many of whom are well aware of what’s going on, and they are not happy.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Taco Bell’s leadership team, many of whom were attending an off-site company event in Southern California, convened that night and made contingency plans to start pulling potentially tainted Taylor lettuce from stores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Rodriguez will wear the number 16 shirt and will compete for minutes with Daphne van Domselaar and Anneke Borbe, both of whom struggled with injuries last season.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Most of the good clocks came from there, and recently several firms with whom we had dealt for years were simply and mysteriously “out of business.”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
The troika has continued to meet under Warsh, but he has said he wants “messier meetings” whose outcomes aren’t settled in advance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Among the politicians and staffers invited to stand outside Number 10 to watch Burnham become prime minister on Monday were teenage TikTokers whose video edits have brought him to a new social media audience.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
During the film-technology and camera maker’s earnings call on Thursday, CEO Rich Gelfond noted the sky-high resale prices of tickets for the film, whose stars include Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
“We’re closer than we’ve probably ever been,” Syd says of the band, whose drummer, Christoper Smith, put out yet another solo record on the same day as “Beard” and Lacy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
He’s annoyed with the people whose house it is.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
