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?

---

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

---

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

Rep. Cory Mills, whom Trump endorsed even though the House Ethics Committee is investigating him for alleged sexual misconduct, lost his primary.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

Conagra is hunting for ways to entice customers taking GLP-1s, for whom the traditional food-business levers of salt, sugar and fat don’t work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Neither UK Athletics, for whom he worked as a consultant sprinting coach, nor the sprinters he coached knew why he was out of contact.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

In the meantime, he’s mourning both teens, whom he described as fun-loving and kind, with a lot of life left to live.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

I am waiting eagerly for you both to be here, for you, Mamá, to sing and play the oud, and for you, Papá, to find friends with whom to play dominoes.

From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar