whoever
[hoo-ev-er]
- 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?
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Origin of whoever
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for whoever
Contemporary Examples
When twelve people are killed by violence, whoever they are, for whatever reason, that is a tragedy and a waste.
These addresses were used by whoever carried out the attack to control the malware and can be found in the malware code itself.
The mass dump suggests that whoever did this, their primary motivation was to embarrass Sony Pictures.
Whoever it is that Lebanese officials now have in custody, they clearly think she is valuable and worth publicizing.
“I identify with the fallen, whoever they may be,” Barry told me years later, in July 2013, during a weekend visit to New York.
Historical Examples
Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism.
Whoever she might be, wherever she was, she might know what to expect should she be discovered.
Quaint CourtshipsVarious
Whoever is in need of help the world over, by that token has a claim on us.
The Call of the Twentieth CenturyDavid Starr Jordan
This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was frightened.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
If these matters must be divided, give me the melody, and whoever else will, may take the noise.
whoever
- any person who; anyone thatwhoever wants it can have it
- no matter whoI'll come round tomorrow, whoever may be here
- an intensive form of who, used in questionswhoever could have thought that?
- informal an unknown or unspecified persongive those to John, or Cathy, or whoever
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for whoever
late Old English hwa efre.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper