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Once vs Whatever - What's the difference?

once | whatever |

As an adverb once

is before.

As a noun once

is before.

As an adjective whatever is

(lb) unexceptional or unimportant; blah.

As a determiner whatever is

no matter which; for any.

As an interjection whatever is

(colloquial|dismissive) a holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.

As a pronoun whatever is

anything; used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.

once

English

(wikipedia once)

Adverb

(-)
  • (lb) One and only one time.
  • :
  • (lb) Formerly; during some period in the past.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Orion hit a rabbit once ; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
  • , title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • (lb) Multiplied by one: indicating that a number is multiplied by one.
  • :
  • As soon as.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}

    Coordinate terms

    * (one time) twice, thrice, often, never, seldom * (formerly) yesterday, tomorrow

    See also

    * once again, once more * once and for all * once in a blue moon * once in a while * once removed * once upon a time

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • As soon as; when; after.
  • We'll get a move on once we find the damn car keys!
    Once you have obtained the elven bow, return to the troll bridge and trade it for the sleeping potion.
    Once he is married, he will be able to claim the inheritance.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=September 27 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Bayern Munich 2 - 0 Man City , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Not only were Jupp Heynckes' team pacey in attack but they were relentless in their pursuit of the ball once they had lost it, and as the game wore on they merely increased their dominance as City wilted in the Allianz Arena.}}

    Statistics

    *

    whatever

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (lb) Unexceptional or unimportant; blah.
  • *1996 , "Mathias", Lake Placid Comments'' (discussion on Internet newsgroup ''rec.music.phish )
  • *:All in all, I guess I shouldn't be complaining, but the rest of the show, imho, was very whatever -ish.
  • *2007 , (Avril Lavigne), , (The Best Damn Thing) ,
  • *:She's like so whatever  / You can do so much better
  • (lb) At all, absolutely, whatsoever.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
  • Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • No matter which; for any
  • (relative) Anything that.
  • * 1734 , (Alexander Pope), (An Essay on Man)
  • And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.
  • *
  • Whatever utility the work may have outside of its stated boundaries will be largely because of such a nonprovincial approach.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}

    Derived terms

    * whatever creams your twinkie * whatever floats your boat * whatever it takes * whateverism * whateverness

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (colloquial, dismissive) A holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.
  • Parent: For the last time, brush your teeth!
    Child: Whatever !

    Usage notes

    * Tone of voice is particularly important here in playing up or playing down the dismissive quality of the word.

    Synonyms

    * so what * whoopee do * meh

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • Anything; used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.
  • I'll do whatever I can.
    Do you want Chinese or Mexican for lunch today? — Whatever .

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *