Whatever vs Whats - What's the difference?
whatever | whats |
(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.
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*
*: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.
No matter which; for any
(relative) Anything that.
* 1734 , (Alexander Pope), (An Essay on Man)
*
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= (colloquial, dismissive) A holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.
Anything; used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.
Used as a stand-in to collectively pluralize arbitrary instances of things. Often used along with whys, hows, etc.
* 1871 , Sarah N. Randolph, The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson: Comp. from Family Letters and Reminiscences [http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN11028850&id=IP8TJneA4SwC&pg=RA1-PA90&lpg=RA1-PA90&dq=%22the+whats%22&as_brr=1]
* 1955 , George Burgess, Barriers and Bridges [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN097590700X&id=JRbwP02-_b0C&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=%22the+whats%22+date:1500-1980&sig=_Ph63uwDbuL3u2gGg0NHq_cVfY0]
* 2004 , Joe Caruso, The Power of Losing Control: Finding Strength, Meaning, and Happiness in an Out-Of-Control World [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1592400485&id=uCgRsVqwueUC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=%22your+whats%22&sig=5wxX5VB7k05b_0EndAld4-H7V1I]
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.As a noun whats is
used as a stand-in to collectively pluralize arbitrary instances of things often used along with whys, hows, etc.whatever
English
Adjective
(en adjective)Determiner
(en determiner)- 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.
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 * whatevernessInterjection
(en interjection)- 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 * mehPronoun
(English Pronouns)- I'll do whatever I can.
- Do you want Chinese or Mexican for lunch today? — Whatever .
Statistics
*Anagrams
*whats
English
Noun
(head)- Shall I continue this reproaching style, quote all the whats and whys out of Jeremiah's Lamentations, and then present you with some outlines of Job for consolation?
- When learning about people and their circumstances, some tend to form generalizations surrounding the whats and wherefores of the people.
- Now see if you can describe the whys behind some of your whats . In other words, write about why you look the way you do in terms of how you wear your hair or the kind of clothes you wear.