Related Searches
on Ask.com
whether - 6 dictionary results
wheth⋅er
[hweth
-er, weth-] 
–conjunction
| 1. | (used to introduce the first of two or more alternatives, and sometimes repeated before the second or later alternative, usually with the correlative or): It matters little whether we go or stay. Whether we go or whether we stay, the result is the same. |
| 2. | (used to introduce a single alternative, the other being implied or understood, or some clause or element not involving alternatives): See whether or not she has come. I doubt whether we can do any better. |
| 3. | Archaic. (used to introduce a question presenting alternatives, usually with the correlative or). |
–pronoun Archaic.
—Idiom| 4. | which or whichever (of two)? |
| 5. | whether or no, under whatever circumstances; regardless: He threatens to go whether or no. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To whether
| wheth·er (hwěth'ər, wěth'-) conj.
Which: "We came in full View of a great Island or Continent, (for we knew not whether)" (Jonathan Swift). [Middle English, from Old English hwether; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Whether
Wheth"er\, pron. [OE. whether, AS. hw[ae]?er; akin to OS. hwe?ar, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder, conj., neither, Icel. hv[=a]rr whether, Goth. hwa?ar, Lith. katras, L. uter, Gr. ?, ?, Skr. katara, from the interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hw[=a] who. ????. See Who, and cf. Either, Neither, Or, conj.] Which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively and relatively. [Archaic] Now choose yourself whether that you liketh. --Chaucer. One day in doubt I cast for to compare Whether in beauties' glory did exceed. --Spenser. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? --Matt. xxi. 31.Whether
Wheth"er\, conj. In case; if; -- used to introduce the first or two or more alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by or, or by or whether. When the second of two alternatives is the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative, and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly implied in the whether of the first. And now who knows But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours? --Shak. You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge. --Shak. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. --Rom. xiv. 8. But whether thus these things, or whether not; Whether the sun, predominant in heaven, Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun, . . . Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid. --Milton. Whether or no, in either case; in any case; as, I will go whether or no. Whether that, whether. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
whether
O.E. hwæðer, hweðer "which of two, whether," from P.Gmc. *khwatharaz (cf. O.S. hwedar, O.N. hvarr, Goth. huaþar, O.H.G. hwedar "which of the two," Ger. weder "neither"), from interrogative base *khwa- "who" (see who) + comparative suffix *-theraz (cf. Skt. katarah, Avestan katara-, Gk. poteros, L. uter "which of the two, either of two," Lith. katras "which of the two," O.C.S. koteru "which"). Its comparative form is either.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
whether
In addition to the idiom beginning with whether, also see not know whether.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
