See Also:

whatever (iou)



whatever pronoun, noun, adjective, & adverb. . ME.
[from WHAT pronoun, adjective + EVER.]
A. pronoun.
I. Interrog. use.
(Also as two words.) Used with emphatic force in place of what in a question. Now colloq. ME.
T. Hardy Whatever has made you come now, sir? E. David Cupids in the kitchen? Whatever next? C. P. Snow Whatever do you mean?
II.
Anything that; (chiefly poet.) everything that. LME.
T. Hardy He was always ready to do..whatever lay in his power. I. McEwan I'll do whatever you want..but please get a doctor for Mary.
No matter what; the unknown thing that. Also with ellipsis of verb: being what may be. LME.
J. H. Newman Men of one idea and nothing more, whatever their merit, must be..narrow-minded. H. James Whatever it is, I hereby offer to accept it. J. Rhys This business of looking cheerful whatever happens. W. Golding Speaking nothing but whatever it is they speak in the island.
With loss of relative force: anything at all (rare); colloq. (usu. preceded by or) something similar. M17.
M. Innes There isn't a handy second title around. Viscount Tom Noddy or whatever. J. Barnes Bourgeois monarchy, or..totalitarianism, or anarchy, or whatever.
III. noun.
An unnamed or unspecified person, thing, quality, etc. E20.
Tolkien The whatever-it-was was..getting close behind Gimli. New Yorker He cooked his beans and bacon, his mutton.., his whatever.
b. adjective.
I.
Any...that; poet. all or every...that. LME.
J. M. Murry We must be content with whatever hints we may glean. Day Lewis Whatever meaning there is in my life..should unfold itself.
Any...all. obsolete exc. as in sense B.3 below. LME.
Inigo Jones Their chiefest Glory to be wholly ignorant in whatever Arts.
No matter what. Also (after preposition) with ellipsis of verb: any...all. (Cf. sense B.2 above.) M16.
A. Thwaite The writer knows whatever nonsense he writes will be well received. City Limits We can..take it in whatever direction.
postpositive. At all; of any kind. Chiefly & now only in neg. contexts with any, no, none, etc. Cf. earlier WHATSOEVER adjective 2. E17.
R. C. Hutchinson There was nothing whatever wrong with the motor-car. O. Nash I'd rather have my facts all wrong Than have no facts whatever.
II. Interrog. use.
(Also as two words.) Used with emphatic force in place of what in a question. E20.
Oxford English Dictionary Whatever contrivance is that?
C. adverb. Whatever may be the case, at any rate. colloq. L19.
New Musical Express Whatever, the myth looks momentous in its..new American threads.
Phrases: or whatever colloq. or something similar (used esp. to suggest substitution of a more accurate or appropriate term).