whoever
Americanpronoun
-
whomever,
objective
-
whosever
possessive
-
whatever person; anyone that.
Whoever did it should be proud. Ask whoever is there. Tell it to whomever you like.
-
no matter who.
I won't do it, whoever asks.
-
who? what person? (used to express astonishment, disbelief, disdain, etc.).
Whoever is that? Whoever told you such a thing?
pronoun
-
any person who; anyone that
whoever wants it can have it
-
no matter who
I'll come round tomorrow, whoever may be here
-
an intensive form of who, used in questions
whoever could have thought that?
-
informal an unknown or unspecified person
give those to John, or Cathy, or whoever
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of whoever
Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; see origin at who, ever
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:
Scientists knew that whoever succeeded could gain an unprecedented military advantage.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Alternatives and eventual replacements will surely be on the mind of whoever is at the helm then.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
He slides the check to whoever is still sitting there.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
The position goes to whoever has had the longest run on the council without being president.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Maggie or whoever took down her statement was confused.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Constitution grants the president nearly unbounded power to pardon whomever he likes, whenever he likes and for whatever reason he likes.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
His attitude is essentially that the EU must take the outstretched hand of whomever the UK puts on the dancefloor to represent them.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Thune said Trump had the right to endorse whomever he wanted, but acknowledged that the president's interventions could make moving legislation "slightly more complicated."
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
The only villain here is Bear, or perhaps it’s the idea that young men believe they should simply be able to have whomever they want.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
Maybe they’ve already alerted the police or the road department or whomever would need to authorize a crew to get us out of here.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
Clothes that show whosever wearing them in their best light, to show off their beauty but in a way that never degrades them in any way,” Griffiths said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
I thank that voice whosever it may have been, Mingo, and will say it was as true a voice as the rest were lying voices.
From The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
God bless them, whosever those voices might be!
From Latitude 19 degree A Romance of the West Indies in the Year of Our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Twenty by Mrs. Schuyler Crowninshield
But whosever fault it was, it wasn't yours.'
From The Convert by Elizabeth Robins
And she is not wholesome, whosever word it was.
From The Claverings by Anthony Trollope
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
