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
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:
Raisi was once a potential successor to Khamenei, whereas Mr. Pezeshkian was merely a safe pair of hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Northern England had 90% of its average, whereas there was just 50% in southern England.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
That’s followed by Singapore at 63%, whereas, despite leading the world in investment into the technology, the U.S. ranks 21st, with just less than one in three having adopted AI.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Three males shared the same mitochondrial lineage, whereas three females each had a different one.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
Razi knew they had the benefit of knowing the land, whereas Marco was a complete stranger.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
A frivolous, meaningless declaration filled with whereases and therefores to pretend our boys in blue were winners?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
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
After four resonant whereases, the resolution reached the two sore spots.
From Time Magazine Archive
I thought it all out by myself; but I wanted the whereases put in right.
From Odd Numbers Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe by Ford, Sewell
Besides Philip hated the copying of pleadings, and he was certain that a life of "whereases" and "aforesaids" and whipping the devil round the stump, would be intolerable.
From The Gilded Age, Part 2. by Warner, Charles Dudley
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.
