whereas
Americanconjunction
-
while on the contrary.
One arrived promptly, whereas the others hung back.
-
it being the case that, or considering that (used especially in formal preambles).
noun
-
whereases
plural
conjunction
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of whereas
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English wheras; equivalent to where + as 1
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:
"It is very easy to tell when a person or a dog has died, whereas other features of aging health are a bit more nuanced."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026
The advisers at my brokerage don’t charge a fee, whereas a private financial adviser does.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Red Bull's gap over the past six races is 0.353secs, whereas it was 0.813secs up to Canada.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Pilgrim’s Pride is the second-largest U.S. chicken company and focuses on poultry products, whereas JBS has a sprawling portfolio encompassing a wider range of proteins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The pinkie is hardly ever used; whereas I often use the index finger when I want to make an important point.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
A frivolous, meaningless declaration filled with whereases and therefores to pretend our boys in blue were winners?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
After four resonant whereases, the resolution reached the two sore spots.
From Time Magazine Archive
Chairman Pittman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee drafted an eloquent joint resolution with many whereases describing the brutality of the Spanish conflict, the danger of its dragging the U. S. into war. etc., etc.
From Time Magazine Archive
There ain't but three whereases, because Sallie Green copied them out of a paper when Mr. Joynes died, just changing to suit a live person, and the last one comes way down.
From Miss Gibbie Gault by Kate Langley Bosher
It is full of "whereases" and "peradventures" and "heretofores" and similar swank, and there aren't any stops in it.
From Uneasy Money by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
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.
