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Either vs Want - What's the difference?

either | want |

As a determiner either

is each of two.

As a pronoun either

is (obsolete) both, each of two or more.

As an adverb either

is as well.

As a conjunction either

is introduces the first of two options, the second of which is introduced by "or".

As a proper noun want is

a personification of want.

either

English

Usage notes

In the UK the first pronunciation is generally used more in southern England, while the latter is more usual in northern England. However, this is an oversimplification, and the pronunciation used varies by individual speaker and sometimes by situation. The second pronunciation is the most common in the United States.

Determiner

(en determiner)
  • Each of two.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • His flowing hair / In curls on either cheek played.
  • * 1936 , (Djuna Barnes), (Nightwood) , Faber & Faber 2007, page 31:
  • Her hands, long and beautiful, lay on either side of her face.
  • One or the other of two.
  • * {{quote-news, passage=You can't be a table and a chair. You're either a Jew or a gentile.
  • , quotee=(Jackie Mason), year=2006, date=December 5, work=USA Today , title= Mason drops lawsuit vs. Jews for Jesus}}
  • (coordinating)
  • * {{quote-book, year=1893, author=(Walter Besant), title= The Ivory Gate, chapter=Prologue
  • , passage=Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language

    Synonyms

    * (one or the other) * (each of two) both, each

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • (obsolete) Both, each of two or more.
  • * , Bk.VII:
  • Than ayther departed to theire tentis and made hem redy to horsebacke as they thought beste.
  • * (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of the three.
  • * , III.i:
  • And either vowd with all their power and wit, / To let not others honour be defaste.
  • * (1809-1894)
  • There have been three talkers in Great British, either of whom would illustrate what I say about dogmatists.
  • One or other of two people or things.
  • * 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban , The Guardian, 6 September:
  • Hodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis, a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.

    Adverb

    (-)
  • As well.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond

    Usage notes

    either is sometimes used, especially in North American English, where neither would be more traditionally accurate: "I'm not hungry." "Me either."

    Synonyms

    * neither * too

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • Introduces the first of two options, the second of which is introduced by "or".
  • Either you eat your dinner or you go to your room.

    Usage notes

    * When there are more than two alternatives, "any" is used instead.

    See also

    * neither * nor * or

    Statistics

    *

    want

    English

    Alternative forms

    * waunt (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To wish for or to desire (something).
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • * Dryden
  • The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting' or imperfect, so much ' wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.
  • To lack, not to have (something).
  • *, II.3.7:
  • he that hath skill to be a pilot wants' a ship; and he that could govern a commonwealth' wants means to exercise his worth, hath not a poor office to manage.
  • * James Merrick
  • Not what we wish, but what we want , / Oh, let thy grace supply!
  • * Addison
  • I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
  • (colloquially with verbal noun as object) To be in need of; to require (something).
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
  • The mowing-machine always wanted oiling. Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.
  • (dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want .
  • * Alexander Pope
  • For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb. See

    Synonyms

    * (desire) set one's heart on, wish for, would like * (lack) be without * (require) need, be in need of

    Derived terms

    * I want to know * want-away * wanted * want for * wanting *

    Noun

    (poverty)
  • (countable) A desire, wish, longing.
  • (countable, often, followed by of) Lack, absence.
  • * , King Henry VI Part 2 , act 4, sc. 8:
  • [H]eavens and honour be witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels.
  • * :
  • For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
    For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
    For want of a horse the rider was lost.
    For want of a rider the battle was lost.
    For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
    And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
  • (uncountable) Poverty.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want .
  • Something needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.
  • * Paley
  • Habitual superfluities become actual wants .
  • (UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
  • Derived terms

    * want ad

    References

    Statistics

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