whys and wherefores

Idioms  

1. All the underlying causes and reasons, as in She went into the whys and wherefores of the adoption agency's rules and procedures. This idiom today is a redundancy since why and wherefore mean the same thing. Formerly, however, why indicated the reason for something and wherefore how it came to be. [c. 1600]

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Example Sentences

Mescal doesn’t spell out the whys and wherefores of his character’s pain.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2023

It takes a while before kids interrogate the whys and wherefores of their family’s dynamics.

From Slate • Feb. 4, 2020

“I felt something new needed to be done to lay down the whys and wherefores of street life, its attractions and distractions.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 14, 2018

Keen discussion off and online has focused not on the whys and wherefores of a Welsh Guggenheim, but on which part of Wales would be the most fitting location.

From The Guardian • Jun. 10, 2013

"The whys and wherefores cannot come within the Province of a Mineral Surveyor."

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson