whatever

[wuht-ev-er, wot-, hwuht-, hwuht-, hwot-, wuht-]

pronoun

1. anything that (usually used in relative clauses).

   Whatever you say is all right with me.

2. (used relatively to indicate a quantity of a specified or implied antecedent).

   Take whatever you like of these.

3. no matter what.

   Do it, whatever happens.

4. any or any one of a number of things whether specifically known or not.

   papers, magazines, or whatever.

5. what (used interrogatively).

   Whatever do you mean?

adjective

1. in any amount; to any extent.

   whatever merit the work has.

2. no matter what.

   whatever rebuffs he might receive.

3. being what or who it may be.

   Whatever the reason, he refuses to go.

4. of any kind (used as an intensifier following the noun or pronoun it modifies).

   any person whatever.

interjection

1. (used to indicate indifference to a state of affairs, situation, previous statement, etc.)

whatever

/ wət-, wɒtˈɛvə /

pronoun

1. everything or anything that

   do whatever he asks you to

2. no matter what

   whatever he does, he is forgiven

3. informal,  an unknown or unspecified thing or things

   take a hammer, chisel, or whatever

4. an intensive form of what, used in questions

   whatever can he have said to upset her so much?

determiner

1. an intensive form of what

   use whatever tools you can get hold of

adjective

1. (postpositive) absolutely; whatsoever

   I saw no point whatever in continuing

interjection

1. informal,  an expression used to show indifference or dismissal

Word History and Origins

Origin of whatever¹

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; what, ever

Idioms and Phrases

see or whatever.

Example Sentences

That's all we know, along with clues that they were on their knees, it was freezing cold, and whatever happened was "completely legal in this country".

Read more on BBC

My daughter’s superpower has always been the ability to pull sunshine into whatever space she inhabits.

Read more on Salon

The bad news is you have reverted to whatever method of conflict resolution you learned growing up, but the good news is these problems, while aggravating and infuriating, are not uncommon.

Read more on MarketWatch

“It’s time to start doing whatever the next step is going to be,” he said.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“We are on call to answer whatever question he’s got and to really provide information to support any decision that he needs to make.”

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• whatsoever