whom

[hoom]

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?

whom

/ 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

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

Confusables Note

See who .

Word History and Origins

Origin of whom¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of whom¹

Old English hwām, dative of hwā _who

Example Sentences

The new study, by researchers at Harvard and Brown universities and UCLA, surveyed nearly 1,400 workers—a majority of whom were software engineers, product managers and data scientists—who had at least two job offers and accepted one between May 2023 and December 2024.

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My job involves talking to lots of fund managers, some of whom actually know what they are doing.

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Several of her books involve love triangles in which a woman is torn between two men, one of whom readers will recognize as patently unsuitable before her protagonist does.

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Dakota Johnson’s character, Lucy, could either be best matched with a poor, struggling actor, with whom she has chemistry, played by Chris Evans, or an insanely wealthy private-equity investor with whom she lacks passion and genuine connection, played by Pedro Pascal.

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Over the next few years, Myers was contacted by over 200 pilots, cabin crew, maintenance workers and passengers who sought help after being exposed to fumes, one of whom was Chesson.

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