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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

whatever.

A thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. A thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

det/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. What ever; emphatic form of 'what'.

    interrogative
    Good heavens! Whatever time is it?!
  2. Regardless of the ... that; for any ... that.

    Whatever your choice, there will be consequences.
    I will stick with you, whatever fate befalls us.
  3. Any ... that; of no matter what type or kind that.

    Whatever doubts I had were quickly dispelled.
    Write down whatever thoughts come into your mind.
  4. Any; of no matter what type or kind.

    He must be stopped, whatever the cost.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

pron/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. What ever; emphasised form of 'what', used to ask which thing, event, circumstance, etc.

    interrogative
    Whatever do you mean?
  2. Regardless of anything that.

    Whatever he does, he will still lose the game.
    Whatever happens, stay calm.
  3. Anything that; all that.

    Do whatever works.
    I’ll do whatever I can.
  4. Anything; thing(s) of unspecified kind, or no matter what kind; sometimes used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.

    informal
    I don't need any of this stuff, so take whatever.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

adv/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. At all; in any way; whatsoever.

    not-comparable
    There is no point whatever in going on with this discussion.
  2. In what way; to what extent.

    interrogative · not-comparable
    Whatever does it matter now?
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

intj/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. A holophrastic expression used to dismiss something that the speaker doesn't care about, doesn't think important, or doesn't want to consider or discuss any further. Sometimes conceived as an ellipsis of whatever you say, implying feigned deference: whatever you say [apparently must be true].

    colloquial
    So you broke it? Whatever! Get a grip.
    Go brush your teeth. – Whatever!
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

adj/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. Unexceptional or unimportant; blah.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

noun/ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wɒtˈɛv.ə/Received-Pronunciation/wʌtˈɛv.ɚ/General-American[wʌɾˈɛv.ɚ]General-American
  1. Something whose exact kind or nature is unimportant; a thingy.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

From Middle English whatever. By surface analysis, what + -ever.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.