Showing results for "whom"

• objective of who.

whom

American  

[hoom] / hum /

pronoun

1. the objective case of who.

   Whom did you call? Of whom are you speaking? With whom did you stay?

2. the dative case of who.

   You gave whom the book?

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whom British  

/ huːm /

pronoun

1. the objective form of who , used when who is not the subject of its own clause

   whom did you say you had seen?

   he can't remember whom he saw

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Usage

It was formerly considered correct to use whom whenever the objective form of who was required. This is no longer thought to be necessary and the objective form who is now commonly used, even in formal writing: there were several people there who he had met before . Who cannot be used directly after a preposition – the preposition is usually displaced, as in the man ( who ) he sold his car to . In formal writing whom is preferred in sentences like these: the man to whom he sold his car . There are some types of sentence in which who cannot be used: the refugees, many of whom were old and ill, were allowed across the border

Commonly Confused

See who .

Etymology

Origin of whom

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hwām, dative of interrogative pronoun hwā who

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

whom

As a devout Catholic, he has nine children, each of whom recently appeared in a YouTube series following his family’s road trip across America to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

That demographic profile mirrors the woman to whom Oster’s argument speaks most directly.

From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2026

At least 63 Americans and nearly 180 Indians were among the missing, many of whom were pilgrims on their way to lakes in the Nepal and Tibet regions that many Hindus and Buddhists consider sacred.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Chinese authorities have said the disaster caused "major casualties" and reported another 558 missing -- 260 of whom are foreigners.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

We named her after my dear childhood friend, Constance Davis, whom we’d affectionately called Dit.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson