Definitions for Whether
ˈʰwɛð ər, ˈwɛð-Whether

Wiktionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. whether(Pronoun)

   Which of two.

   Etymology: hwæþer, from hwaþeraz, comparative form of hwaz. Cognate with German weder, Swedish hvar, Icelandic hvorr.

2. whether(Conjunction)

   ; if, whether or not.

   Do you know whether he's coming?

   Etymology: hwæþer, from hwaþeraz, comparative form of hwaz. Cognate with German weder, Swedish hvar, Icelandic hvorr.

3. whether(Conjunction)

   Introducing a direct interrogative question which indicates doubt between alternatives.

   whether ys it easyer to saye to the sicke of the palsey, thy synnes ar forgeven the: or to saye, aryse, take uppe thy beed and walke?

   Etymology: Old English hwæþer, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz, comparative form of *hwaz ("who") . Cognate with English either, German weder ("neither") , Swedish var, Icelandic hvor ("each of two, which of two") .

4. whether(Conjunction)

   Used to introduce an indirect interrogative question that consists of multiple alternative possibilities.

   He chose the correct answer, but I don't know whether it was by luck or by skill.

   Etymology: Old English hwæþer, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz, comparative form of *hwaz ("who") . Cognate with English either, German weder ("neither") , Swedish var, Icelandic hvor ("each of two, which of two") .

5. whether(Conjunction)

   Without a correlative, used to introduce a simple indirect question.

   Do you know whether he's coming?

   Etymology: Old English hwæþer, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz, comparative form of *hwaz ("who") . Cognate with English either, German weder ("neither") , Swedish var, Icelandic hvor ("each of two, which of two") .

6. whether(Conjunction)

   Used to introduce a disjunctive adverbial clause which qualifies the main clause of the sentence.

   He's coming, whether you like it or not.

   Etymology: Old English hwæþer, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz, comparative form of *hwaz ("who") . Cognate with English either, German weder ("neither") , Swedish var, Icelandic hvor ("each of two, which of two") .

Webster Dictionary(4.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Whether

   which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively and relatively

   Etymology: [OE. whether, AS. hwer; akin to OS. hwear, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder, conj., neither, Icel. hvrr whether, Goth. hwaar, Lith. katras, L. uter, Gr. , , Skr. katara, from the interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hw who. . See Who, and cf. Either, Neither, Or, conj.]

2. Whether

   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

   Etymology: [OE. whether, AS. hwer; akin to OS. hwear, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder, conj., neither, Icel. hvrr whether, Goth. hwaar, Lith. katras, L. uter, Gr. , , Skr. katara, from the interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hw who. . See Who, and cf. Either, Neither, Or, conj.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Whether

   hweth′ėr, interrog. and rel. pron. signifying which of two.—conj. which of two alternatives.—interrog. adv. introducing the first of two questions, the second being introduced by or—also conj.—Whether or no (coll.), in any case, surely. [A.S. hwæther, from hwá, who, with the old comp. suffix -ther; cog. with Goth. hwathar, Ger. weder; also with L. uter, Gr. koteros, Sans. katara. Cf. Other and Alter.]

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Whether' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #277

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Whether' in Written Corpus Frequency: #265

How to pronounce Whether?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say Whether in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Whether in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Whether in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of Whether in a Sentence

1. Anne Schuchat:

   It’s frustrating that some people have opted out of vaccination, we have a generation that hasn’t seen these diseases. Whether it’s clinicians who haven’t taken care of patients before, or parents who think this disease doesn’t exist anymore.

2. Chief Executive Joe Kaeser:

   We are reasonably confident we are going to see the trough in our fiscal third quarter, based on what we hear from our customers and what we see in the supply chain, the question is... whether there will be some sequential relief in the fourth quarter or not.

3. Adjutant Christian Retournat:

   It is way too soon to say whether or not it is MH370. We just found the debris this morning.

4. Amaia Arranz-Otaegui:

   We now have to assess whether there was a relationship between bread production and the origins of agriculture, it is possible that bread may have provided an incentive for people to take up plant cultivation and farming, if it became a desirable or much-sought-after food.

5. John Williams:

   Really positive data trends, improvement in the labor market, signs that improve the confidence and the expectation that inflation will move back to 2 percent - I mean could imagine that constellation of data coming in, whether before June or meetings right after that too, but that would require the data to be good.

Images & Illustrations of Whether

Popularity rank by frequency of use