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-aych-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:
Meanwhile, the estimated share of female traders has grown by about 40% over the past year, and women made up two-thirds of new users who wagered on “Love Island.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Focus groups showed consumers “responded well to the concept of addition: more energy, more abundance, more energy independence, more jobs,” said Beane, who is also president of Vestas North America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
As part of a settlement deal with US states who had objected to the merger, Paramount Skydance has agreed to release a set number of films every year for the next five years.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who promised to freeze rent during his campaign, is the most well-known in this category, and there have been wins for renter-candidates in cities like Cambridge, Mass., and Seattle.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Nearly seventy thousand were American citizens; many were from families who had lived in the United States for several generations.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Now, amidst severe overcrowding in some areas, unsanitary conditions and limited healthcare access, the WHO is bracing for more and bigger disease outbreaks.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
According to the WHO, 695 confirmed cases and 138 confirmed deaths had been reported in the DRC and Uganda as of June 11.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
In the current epidemic, driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine, those workers haven’t been paid their Ebola-response allowances for weeks, according to the WHO and local aid officials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Burnout and depression are distinct conditions, and the WHO does not consider burnout to be a mental health condition or illness.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
He added that Arata Kochi, as head of the TB program for WHO, had come to recognize this threat and had introduced the idea of a DOTS-plus strategy.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Worry less about who’s talking to whom and who has offended whom, and more about the parents’ independence.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Roberts said the lineup changes he would consider include starting Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas, both of whom hit well against left-handers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
“If you prevail, is there a limiting principle as to whom you can sue?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
As many as 200 people with whom she may have had contact were under quarantine, the People of Baikal outlet added, without elaborating.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
“First, let us discover to whom this correspondence is addressed.”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
“Missouri has some of the worst protection for renters anywhere in the country,” Duncan told MarketWatch, and it impacts anyone whose earnings are not keeping up with the cost of living.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
“This is highly unusual for us,” Laura Beane, chairman of Our Energy, whose funders include Vestas North America, Pattern Energy and HASI, told me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Seeman was caught on camera seeming to curse at Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, whose side lost 36-24 away to the New York Giants.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Samms connected with parents whose kids had to switch schools multiple times after rising rents pushed them out of their homes.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
And so Betsie and I arrived in Barracks 8 in the small hours of that morning, bringing not only the Bible, but a new knowledge of the power of Him whose story it was.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
